Red Spider Lilies
by MusicOfMadness
Summary: Nakuka is one of the worst sisters a person could have. She's harsh, cold, intimidating, and prefers to be alone, but she was still Tsuna's sister. He supposes that she will never change, just as he'll always be Dame Tsuna. Because, of course, they'll never change. OC/SI Formerly Frozen Skies and Lullabies
1. The Cold Front Named Nakuka

Nakuka has never been a child of normality. She must have been born under a star of oddity or maybe she was a child genius, or at least, that's how she assumed Nana Sawada saw it. She would never blame the woman if she did think that her child was broken, defective if you will. Hell, she isn't too far from calling herself that. She was just a cold, hard bitch of a teenager stuck into the body of a child after all. She never expected there to be an afterlife for someone like her. Then again, she never thought too much about what would happen after she died.

She took the whole situation in stride, though. She didn't act surprised when she woke up on a pink bed with a happy anime girl depicted on the covers, she simply went with the flow and went downstairs for breakfast. The only thing that annoyed her in this life was her "brother", Sawada Tsunayoshi. He was high-pitched, useless, and a cry baby. He was everything she wasn't and he pissed her off.

So, it was no surprise when she received him with a cold glance and an dismissive tone once she got to know him. He seemed to have gotten the vibe from her that she didn't want him around, so he generally stayed away from her, only to talk to her when their mother asked him to get her for whatever meal that was sitting on the kitchen table. She merely passed off her boredom by criticizing him and insulting him, but other than that, she generally stayed in the vicinity of her room.

"Na-chan! Good morning, how's my birthday girl?" Nana, the happy go-lucky woman, smiled at the dark brown haired girl as she grunted in response and took her usual seat across from her son. The response didn't bother her as she was used to Nakuka's nonverbal responses, she was even able to decipher the girl's grunts and hums now! Though, her husband has yet to pick up on some of them. It generally ended up with a cold glare towards the patriarch of the Sawada household when his jokes have run their course.

"So, what would you like to have for breakfast?" Her warm eyes watched as her daughter shrugged and sat slumped in chair, staring absentmindedly at the table. She already knew at this point that asking her more questions over the topic would only leave an irate child in their midst, so she quickly whipped up some rice and omelets for them to enjoy while she got started on dishes.

"Ka-san! We already had this two days ago!" Tsuna's complaint died in his throat once he caught the glare of his younger sister's dark eyes. The cold, irate gaze made him stutter as his sister spoke to him in the biting tone he was familiar with by now.

"Oh, do you want something else then, Tsu-kun?"

"If you wanted something else, then you should make it yourself."

"It's alright, Ka-san. I'll just eat this." Their mother smiled, completely missing the intimidation that her daughter instilled into her son as she mistook Nakuka's threateningly low voice as a sleepy one. She obliviously washed the dishes and the floors before her eyes latched onto the wall clock and she gasped in surprise.

"Ah, Tsu-kun, Na-chan! You two are going to be late to school!" She watched as both her children got up to get ready. Of course, one clumsily stumbled their way up the stairs while the other calmly followed after, not worried about the consequences for being late.

"I'm leaving, Ka-san!" Tsuna ran out the door, miraculously not tripping as he shoved his shoes on and avoided the neighbor's chihuahua.

"Have a good day at school, Na-chan."

"Mn." Said girl gave her a quick glance as she nodded and slipped onto her bicycle, having enough sense to ask for one so that she didn't have to run to school. Nana lingered by the door, resting her chin in the palm of her hand.

"Ara~ What am I going to do with those two." A small sigh left her lips before she shook her head and entered back into the house to get her wallet. "Oh well, might as well get some groceries. I wonder what Tsu-kun and Na-chan would like to eat tonight?"

* * *

><p>'Ah man, I can't believe I'm late again! I even got up earlier than I normally do, too!' Tsuna huffed and puffed as his admittedly short legs carried him towards the school, hoping to whatever higher being the might be there that he wasn't late and had to face the dreaded Head of the Disciplinary committee.<p>

"Ah, Nakuka! Wait for me!" All he received for his desperate call was a blank glance as she pedaled towards the school, going more than double his running speed on her new bike. Tsuna instantly regretted his decision to spend his birthday money on more manga books, even though he promised his mom that he would buy academic books to help with his poor grades, a few months ago.

By the time he arrived at school, his younger sister already locked her bike into the bike rack and went to her class. He could feel the hairs on his arms raise as the bell of the school's clock run.

"Herbivore."

"Hieeee!" He let out a high pitched squeal as he dashed to class, already knowing that if he stayed then he'll get "bitten to death" by the violent skylark.

Tsuna ran to class and made it just in time so that his teacher only left him with a snide remark before ordering him to his seat. It didn't take Tsuna long to drift off into a daze, not even bothering to understand the material he was 75% sure he wouldn't understand. He merely tapped a pencil against a desk before he yelped and stood up when his teacher asked him a question he didn't catch.

"Sawada! What's the answer to this problem?" He had gotten use to this teacher's piss poor attitude. He already resigned himself to the fate of being Nezu-sensei's target of humiliation.

"I-I don't know." Tsuna sank down in his chair as his teacher made another remark about his idiocy and his fellow classmate's jeered at his response.

'Whatever. It's not like I'll ever use this stuff outside of school.' And so, Tsuna dozed off on his desk, not even masking his attempt to catch some shut eye.

* * *

><p>"So, did Dame-Tsuna catch some nice Z's during class?" Tsuna jerked awake when one of his bullies flicked his cheek. The scrawny brunette scrambled for an answer only for the small group to poke more fun at him.<p>

"Man, you're so useless, No Good Tsuna. At this rate you'll even fail at doing the simplest of things, like eating." The boys cackled at Tsuna's lack of skill. The boy weakly leaned back as one of them leaned forward.

"Huh, so what's new, No Good? I heard your little sister is a grade above you. Must be hard being so Dame." There it was, the subject that Tsuna dreaded. He and his sister never had a great relationship with each other. From an early age, he knew that she did not take a liking to him; she only interacted with him when she was forced to and whenever she did, she always had that empty gaze of hers fill up with contempt just for little ol' him. He suppose that he should feel relieved that he could evoke any sort of emotion from her, seeing as he would have to consider the possibility of her being a walking corpse if he didn't receive at least that.

"Poor, Nakuka. She must be embarrassed to have such a dame brother." Tsuna didn't doubt the possibility.

"I doubt it, man. She's practically a robot. She rarely shows any emotion."

"That's true." One of the boys agreed before he punched Tsuna's arm. "Well, see you after school, Dame Tsuna."

Tsuna rubbed his arm dejectedly, wondering what he did to deserve their wrath. He dug his bento out, quickly picking out the vegetables that he didn't like and throwing them away so that his sister couldn't reprimand him for wasting food again. He silently ate, sitting alone at his desk as his thoughts began to drift again. He found himself doing that a lot lately, though he doesn't have much else to do other than read mangas, and there was a limited amount of good ones before your resort to reading the ones that shouldn't have been approved by the producers in the first place.

"Shiori-chan, I heard that it was your older sister's birthday yesterday! So, how was it?"

"Oh my gosh, it was amazing! I got her these cute pair of earrings and she absolutely loved them! And then she took me out to karaoke and-"

Tsuna stopped listening to the girl as he packed up his bento, deciding to leave to go home despite the day being only half over. So, he quickly slung his stuff onto his shoulder and made his way home, thoughts drifting in his head as he did so.

'I wonder if Nakuka and I could have been that close...'

That was a thought that Tsuna often questioned himself when he was younger when he first started to notice his younger sister's distaste towards him. He suppose even his own family can't be immune to his dame-ness. At first he tried as hard as he could to impress and get Nakuka to like him, but as he grew older, he saw that there wasn't much point and stopped his attempts. She was a cold person and even their own mother, someone who practically radiated warmth, couldn't reach her black heart. She definitely was more successful than he and his no good father, though.

Most times, Nakuka won't even grace them with a response, instead opting to glare at them if their question irked her. She doesn't even call him by his name most times and if she does, then she calls him strictly his full first name instead of shortening it like everyone else.

"Maybe she's really related to Hibari-san and my real sister was switched with her." Though, he knew that couldn't be true. It was clear as day that they resembled each other. While he mainly took after his mother, she seemed to be more of a mix between their parents. His hair and eyes were a light shade of brown while her features took a more darker shade, though she seemed to luck out and inherited their mother's smooth locks instead of the same fluffy and hard to tame ones that Tsuna possessed. Her eyes were the same roundness as their mother's, but had a hint of their father's sharper eyes. Heck, the only thing that really bothered him was that she was just as tall as he was and was even growing past that despite being a year younger than him.

Tsuna flopped down as the thoughts in his head died down and the thoughts of his sister were replaced with the manga in his hands. Though, he didn't get far as his mother barged in and started to reprimand him for coming home in the middle of class. Geez, why couldn't people just leave him alone?

"Oh, and I hired you a home tutor." Hold on.

"What?! But mom, I don't need a tutor! Tell them not to come!"

"Well, you wouldn't listen to Nakuka when she tried to teach you, so I had to do it. Just look at this beautiful flier it came on." She held out said piece of paper and read it. "'Will raise your kid to be the leader of the next generation. Grade and subjects doesn't matter.' Isn't that great?!"

"I refuse to have a tutor! I'm not good at anything anyway!"

"Ciaossu." And that's when Tsuna's world turned upside down.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

**Hey, so this chapter was mainly through Nakuka's family's eyes, but from here on out it will mostly center around Nakuka. I hope that you guys found it interesting. Leave me your thoughts and comments in the reviews, I'm interested in what you all think! **

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Odd Expressions of Big Brother

School was as boring as usual for Nakuka. It was never very hard for her considering the fact that she she already learned this type of stuff many years ago before she died. She would usually wait for Tsuna, as per request by her mother, but she caught word from some small time bullies that he went home around lunch time.

"Tch. Lazy asshole can't even do his own work." Nakuka glanced ahead of her to see a auburn haired girl. She instantly knew who it was, Tsuna did act like a loser and practically watched her every movement like the creep he was. She never got why he didn't just get over his loser complex and simply just talk to the overly peppy girl.

"Sasagawa Kyoko, please go out with me!" Nakuka stopped where she was as she saw her older brother standing in the street in his underpants while Kyoko stood shocked.

"Kyaa!" She completely expected the scream that came from the girl as she hit him with a bag and ran, leaving another boy to smack Tsuna in the face before chasing after the girl. Nakuka sniffed before she walked over to the pitiful male.

Tsuna looked up when he saw a pair of shoes appear in his vision. He met the blank face of his sister, Nakuka. He braced himself for the scathing comment, forgetting about Reborn's presence for the moment.

"Nice." He blinked in surprise and watched as she walked on, not even bothering to comment on the baby hitman that blatantly had a hand in the present situation.

'Hm, so this is Sawada Nakuka.' Reborn watched as the younger Sawada walked away from her brother, noting their interactions with each other.

"Get a move on, Dame Tsuna."

"Don't tell me what to- Ow!" A swift kick ended his grumble as Reborn slipped back into his thoughts.

"Dame Tsuna, what do you think about your sister." Of course, Reborn already read the files and knew that they had a particularly volatile relationship.

"Nakuka? We don't get along. She's really cold and doesn't like me. I don't understand her."

Exactly as he thought, though one thing bugged him. He talked to Iemitsu before arriving in Nanimori and it seemed like she has always acted that way.

He didn't usually see that type of attitude in people who lived a quiet suburban life style with loving parents. Her brother turned out normally, why didn't she?

While her brother's eyes were expressive and he displayed emotions on the dime, she always had a stony face with lifeless eyes that took in the world around her, almost as if she wasn't apart of it herself. Though, Reborn decided the strange situation wasn't worth the worry as he kicked the pathetic boy along.

Once they got home, he explained the basics to the next Vongola in line. Of course, the idiot tried to worm his way out of the job, but he wasn't about to let that happen.

"I'm a mafioso and I'll make sure to make you into one of the best." He quickly reverted to his innocent guise when Nana Sawada poked her head through the opening in the door to tell them that dinner was ready. They trekked downstairs (well, if you count using Tsuna as a surfboard down the stairs as 'trek', then sure) and took a seat at the dining table.

"Ka-san, did you really have to hire a tutor? I can manage myself." Tsuna made one last appeal to his mother before his hopes were dashed by his sister.

"If you could manage yourself, then you wouldn't have needed a tutor."

"That's right, Tsu-kun. I just want you to get better at your studies, this will be good for you!"

'Interesting.' Reborn examined as Tsuna shrunk back. No wonder she had such a handle on her older brother, the pressure around her seems to grow heavier when she's irate. He was fast enough to catch the momentary sharpening of her eyes before it dulled down into emptiness again and the pressure disappeared.

"Tsunayoshi, did you eat all of your bento today." Her eyes flickered upwards and Tsuna stiffened slightly.

"Yeah, I did." Reborn watched in amusement as her eyes narrowed.

"Don't lie to me."

"I really did! Why do you care, anyway?"

_"Tsuna."_ The biting tone cowed him as he sank into his chair and left her with a slightly satisfied look as she made a side comment before she went back to her meal. "Don't lie to me."

'Hm,' Reborn smirked as he, too, dug into his meal with more finesse than a baby should have. 'How interesting.'

* * *

><p>The next day, school went on like it normally did. I simply turned my assignments in and absentmindedly took down notes as my teacher droned on about what happened hundreds of years ago from that dusty, old textbook of his. Soon enough, class turned into lunch and I got up to eat in a more secluded place, seeing as the one person I usually ate with was gone for today.<p>

So, I travelled to one of the benches outside and tied my dark hair back as it kept smacking me in the face. I unwrapped the overly girly bento cloth that my mother bought me as silently ate my lunch. A small tightening of my insides made me turn around, noticing the baby that my mother hired yesterday. I didn't pay attention to the whole situation or thought about it too much, but I nodded in acknowledgment, nonetheless.

"What do you want?" I mumbled through my chopsticks, vaguely aware of my slightly rude attitude. He is younger than me, so I guess I had some leeway. Respect your elders and all that.

"Aren't you going to watch Tsuna's fight?" I was silent for a few seconds as I chewed on my food.

"He's fighting? That doesn't sound like him." I ran my tongue over my sharp teeth, making sure food weren't stuck between them. "What'd he do to cause it?"

"Are you going to watch the fight?" I didn't feel too bothered as I noticed he ignored my question. I simply shrugged and spoke my disinterest in the situation. "The fight will be in the school's gym." And he hopped away.

"Tch, he expects me to go." I let out a huff as I capped my bento off and sat silently on the bento. I sat there for a few minutes, staring at sakura trees that lined the school's entrance. An agitated sigh left me as I knew that I was doing exactly what he wanted.

"What a bunch of bull." I pushed the door to the gym, displeased with the amount of people packed into the place. I came in just in time to see a uncharacteristically focused Tsuna straddling some kid that I see around the school every once in a while. All noises seemed to dwindle out all of a sudden as Tsuna held up a clump of hair.

"I got hyakupon!" I even had to admit that I was surprised as the crowd bursted into laughter.

"That's smart, Tsuna! He never specified what you had to get ippon off of!" My eyebrows knitted together slightly, wondering why no one was bothered by the sudden personality change and the fact that he was able to rip all of that hair off in one go. I strained to get a better look at the situation as I forced myself onto the tips of my toes, only to be blocked by some of the more taller audience members. So, I did what was natural and stood on top of the bleacher seats.

"Damnit!" My eyes widened slightly as he let out a roar and started to rip out all of the other guy's hair. "Zembupon."

"R-Red!"

I was less interested in the win and more interested in the orange flame that fizzled out on his forehead. His expression went back to his normal dopey one and people started to crowd him as that Kyoko girl from yesterday started to talk to him, but I shifted my gaze when something told me to look up near the lights. I swore I saw something shift up there, but it seemed nothing was up there as I scanned it. Against my suspicions, I adverted my gaze, sparing one more glance towards Tsunayoshi.

I hopped off of the bleacher and exited the gym. I let myself detach from reality as I watched my feet walk along the ground towards my classroom, aware of the fact that class had started a long time ago

"What did you think of the match?" I glided to a stop as I saw the baby pop up out of nowhere, standing on the window sill. I shrugged noncommittally.

"Did you have something to do with all of this?" The small smirk on his face left me on guard.

"Maybe so."

"Whatever, I need to get to class." I sighed and walked away, deciding that this wasn't my time. I saw someone ahead of me in the hallway as I got closer to my room. I adverted my eyes as to not have any awkward eye contact, only to glance back at them and noticed how the boy was headed towards the gym. A vague memory came up and I remembered that he was the guy that everyone was afraid of. I haven't really seen him around very much, but I had to respect the fact that he was able to control everyone with fear.

I silently slipped into my chair right as my teacher came in. Soon the rest of my class flooded in, berated for putting their education on hold for something so trivial. I sighed silently as I put myself in autopilot and copied notes while I started to daydream, shifting in and out of awareness as I did so.

'I wonder what tomorrow has in store for me.'

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

**Well, here's another chapter. I'm suspecting the story won't get too interesting until the Guardians finally show up as I didn't care much for the first 20-30 chapter/episodes of KHR. So, most likely I'll try to make it go as fast as I can to get it over with. Also, thanks to all those who favorite/followed my story, it means a lot and really keeps me going!**

**I also made a quick picture of Nakuka, so check it out on my Deviantart page: ProCrastWork.**


	3. Sleepy Time in a Bottle

Cocky. Cocky was the first thing that ran through my head once I arrived at school the next day. I didn't know what happened to Tsunayoshi to put him in such a _happy_ mood. Though, I could tell the cocky bastard was glowing from the compliments he was being showered in from his one sided kendo match yesterday. Has he already forgotten that these were the same people who mercilessly called him Dame Tsuna? What an idiot. I felt a strong urge that made me want to crush his cockiness into a million pieces and bring him down to earth. Nonetheless, irritation spiked in my veins as I glowered, not even bothering to give him my words of wisdom and hate as I briskly walked past him to get to the second year hallway.

As per usual, I ignored my classmates and sat at my desk, preparing myself for class when I a feeling in my gut told me to look up.

"So, the great Nakuka is finally here. What took you so long, your idiot brother?" The unimpressed frown of my lips did not dissipate as I looked up to see a blonde girl. The same blonde haired, raspberry eyed girl that preferred to bully (though I say that loosely, as her annoying obsession never really bothered me) me instead of actually finding some friends to gossip with like the rest of the brain dead girls in my class.

"I'm flattered that you think so highly of me. It's good to know that I'm appreciated, Tanpopo." I commented flatly as the blonde's ears reddened.

"It's Tane! I hate being called Tanpopo!"

I flipped open my textbook and started to scan over the information. "Why do you think I call you that?" She bristled in embarrassment before she noticed that she lost my attention and huffed as she stomped away. What can I say? I'm the master of insouciance.

"All right, class!" I sighed silently as the annoyingly beatific teacher clapped her hands. I could feel the jovial smile of hers already wear down my tolerance for others.

'I will choke out your happiness and strangle it with a rope. It's too early for this shit.' The corner of my mouth twitched as the horrifyingly happy teacher finally got over her morning greetings and got started with what really mattered.

"Nakuka-chan, would you like to answer this question?" A smile of doom flashed towards me as I shifted so that I fully sitting up instead of slouching like before. If there was one other thing that bothered, it would be the odd fact that Mizutani-sensei seems to have taken a great liking towards me.

"15," I answered after a few seconds of scanning the question. I grimaced when the woman flounced over and stuck a sticker smack dab on the center of my forehead.

"Good job, Nakuka-chan!"

'Please, don't touch me.' I gingerly peeled the circular sticker off, reading it to see the words "good job" in a speech bubble coming out of a penguin's mouth, clearly missing the opportunity to make a joke about the climate that said animal lives in.

I ignored the stupidity of my class's answers as sleep started to take over me. I blacked out for a few minutes before a squeal of surprise jolted me into reality.

"Klukukan-sama! Class, look! It's one of the greatest men to ever live! What is the reason for this pleasant visit, Klukukan-sama?"

"I'm here to collect, Nakuka." The sleep instantly left my system as I felt everyone's eyes shift towards me. My eyebrows knitted in uncertainty.

"Of course! Please, take her with you Klukukan-sama." I got up, displeased with the fact that the fangirl-ing woman decided my fate for me. A hand on my shoulder stopped me from the faintly coffee scented midget.

"Get an autograph for me, Nakuka-chan." The hot breathed whisper made me uncomfortable as it clung to my hair curtaining around my ear, making me bring a hand up to it in discomfort, sending the starry eyed woman a look that clearly displayed how I felt. I quickly gave up on it once I noticed that she was too far gone in her fantasies to actually take note of it.

"I'm not fucking getting you an autograph." I grouched inaudibly to myself.

Though, with a reluctant sigh, I fluidly walked out of the classroom and closed the sliding door behind me. I languidly turned around and flicked my hair over my shoulder, putting my hands on my hips and raising my eyebrow as I stared at Kukukan, or whatever his name is, questioningly.

"So, what's with the outfit?"

"You need to dress the part when you meet the fans." I blankly stared as Reborn, I finally learned his name, shed his costume.

"Sure, now why'd you call me out of class? I don't want to make up notes because of this."

"Your grades wouldn't suffer if you did miss class. You constantly ask your mother to call you in sick so that you can relax at home."

I shrugged. "School's boring and it's not even hard. Might as well just stay home."

"Then, you can watch Tsuna's volleyball game." I kept my face apathetic as I studied the small person. Since when did I stop considering him an infant?

"Why would I do that? I don't care about what he does."

"I'll call you in as absent for the rest of the day."

"Sounds tempting, but I'd rather do well on my tests than to see Tsunayoshi fail at hitting a moving object." I leaned against the wall, figuring this conversation was going to take a while.

"It'll be worth your while. I'm sure you will be quite surprised with the turnout." I blinked in curiosity. Just what was he talking about? I ignored what he said for the moment as I crouched down to be near his level of height.

"Can you call me in sick tomorrow, too, and convince mom to let me go around Nanimori's shopping district alone." The small smirk was all I needed from the coffee scented midget.

"The match is in the gym, you should get going if you're going to make it in time."

"Mn-hm." I hummed monotonously as I casually strolled away, not bothering to run to where said destination was. I'm sure I won't miss much in the minute or two that it takes to get there.

Once I did get to the gym, I found myself a seat in very top of the bleachers, vaguely surprised with the amount of people that came to the game. I scanned my surroundings and concluded that they must have been here for a kid named Yamamoto based on some of the signs were held up with disgusting glittery hearts. Tsunayoshi must have been the other half of the reason since my ears caught his name a few times.

"Begin!" The referee shouted. I leaned back against the wall, taking note how the team that Tsunayoshi was on was uncharacteristically depending on him. I snorted.

"How stupid." And just as I expected, Tsunayoshi caught the ball with his manly (ha, like I can call him manly) parts and collapsed on the ground. The ball hit him a few more times as the crowd and his team started to get agitated, thinking he wasn't trying his best. "Tch, it's just because he sucks. Why did you even want me to come? He always plays like this." I glanced at the toddler when I felt him land next to me.

"You'll know when the time comes." I cocked my head to the side and looked out onto the court, noticing how Tsunayoshi was talking to his teammates. I glanced at the toddler and he answered my unspoken question. "I need to go take care of something."

That something was obviously Tsunayoshi, but who am I to poke my nose into people's business?

'I should have brought my homework.' A small frown graced my face as I watched the people on the court take a break. I leaned my head back and sighed. 'Maybe I should go to my locker and get my stuff?'

* * *

><p>Tsuna couldn't do it. He couldn't go back in that gym and let everyone know that yesterday was a fluke and that he was just being cocky. He turned the faucet on with a sigh and splashed some cold water on his face.<p>

"Not going home?" Even the squeaky voice of his tutor didn't break him from his contemplation.

"Yeah." Tsuna's fingers gripped the edges of the basin, a small frown of worry on his face. "I'm going."

"Later." He heard Reborn say, but the uncharacteristically passive statement didn't register to him as odd as he kept running. He ran towards the gym, but slowed down right as it came into sight.

'How embarrassing, getting cocky and simply accepting a request.' He pried the doors open to see the surprised and hopeful faces of his classmates. 'And for using the dying will bullets for what my classmates are working hard to do.' A rush of shame filled him as a determined expression became etched on his face. 'I'll just do everything I can and then apologize after the game.'

And that was when he felt a piercing pain in both of his legs. He fell down with a yelp and examined his pants which now had to two suspiciously bullet like holes in them.

"Huh, what's going on?" He looked at his hands, noting how nothing was happening. "Nothing happened..." He didn't have enough time to ponder what was going on as the ref blew the whistle.

"It's coming your way, Tsuna! Block it!"

"Okay!"

'Do all that I can.' Tsuna closed his eyes and jumped as everyone watched with wide eyes. Tsuna finally opened his eyes and noticed how high up he was, his feet were above the tallest members head! Elation filled him for a brief second before pain filled him. He blocked the ball all right, he just didn't expect to block it with own set.

Everyone winced, but cheered him on, nonetheless. The game went quickly after that and once it was over, he was the center of a swamp of bodies just like yesterday. A sense of warmth filled him at actually accomplishing something and not being viewed as a failure by peers. As he thanked everyone, he looked up into the bleachers and saw the last person that he thought would come watch him. His little sister's expression was the same, but it seemed different as if it didn't hold the same cold weight it usually did. And for once, Tsuna felt like the world was right, even if he did later find out that Reborn's bullets help him once again.

* * *

><p>True to Reborn's words, I got out of school the next day and since it was Friday, I got to have a three day weekend. Of course, I asked Reborn to get me all of my homework which was delivered by some half scared man in a suit. I didn't question is as I took the money that my mom offered me, sending me a bright smile as she said to be careful. I nodded and soon found myself in the shopping district.<p>

"What should I do now?" I looked around at the shops and cafes, wondering if any of them would kick me out because I should be in school. And so I went to one of the nearby cafes and ordered a safe dish that I was about 75% that I would like. I waited patiently and scrolled through my mother's cellphone, seeing as she wanted some way for me to contact her if something were to happen, until my meal came. I clicked the device off as I reveled in the silence of the cafe, glad that I came in during school hours.

Now, I would usually sit there and let myself blank out while I ate, but it seems that I wasn't as fortunate as my mind brought up some old memories, memories that should have been forgotten once I woke up in the body of Sawada Nakuka.

'I wonder what they're doing now. Were they happy when I died?' I stared into my murky yellow soup. "Tch, assholes are probably happy now that I'm gone."

"Are you done, yet?" I glared at the older female as she stood next to my table. Now, I'm normally polite, despite my idea that everyone's an idiot, but her slight infliction in her tone pissed me off as I was already in a bad mood.

"I'm done when I'm done." Her face twisted into a slight sneer before she disappeared behind the counter, probably due to that "customer is always right" bullshit that some people like to spout. And so I sat in that chair or an extra five minutes despite the fact that I was already done.

I then got up and left the cafe, vowing to never come back unless that woman was gone. As I walked the streets, my fingers twitched. A phantom craving for some sleeping pills curled in my stomach before it disappeared the next moment. I sighed in exasperation.

"You'd think that dying and being brought back to life would kill any addictions you had in your past life." I sat on the swings of a park that I happened to pass. I gripped the dirty chains in my hands as I swung myself into motion and leaned back as I did so, watching the unbearably bright sky above me. I always did wonder why the sky looked so fake on sunny days.

"Hey, what are you doing out of class?" I uprighted myself as I spotted a shady looking teen. Though I say shady, he honestly looked pretty normal. Just the fact that he had a backpack on and isn't in class just made me wary.

"I'm on break. What do you want?" I stood up casually, ready for any situation that came my way.

"I see, do you want some fun?"

"You might wanna clarify what you mean." I raised an eyebrow. Honestly, if this guy is asking for sex, then he can fuck off.

"Some happy times, dreamland in a pill?"

"You mean drugs, then."

"You want some?" I paused as some part of me ached for whatever the teen had, but I sighed and shook my head. It was a pain in the ass now that I realized how hard the drugs, even though I only took sleeping and caffeine pills, had hit me now that I have a new, clean body.

"Don't have any money, I suggest finding some people who look down or stupid." He flashed me a smile as he shouldered his back, his black hair gleaming in the sun.

"No problem, thanks for the suggestion." He fumbled for a second as my phone went off. "Ah-uh, see you later?"

"Maybe." I said offhandedly as I watched him walk away, pleasantly surprised that I didn't have to pull out the bitch card. Once I was sure he was gone, I brought up the phone to see that mom had texted me to walk Tsunayoshi home. How she texted me when I had her phone, no clue, but the fact that she's probably trying to make me bond with him again irked me. But I complied, nonetheless, as I walked towards Nanimori middle.

It took me about thirty minutes to get to our school, but I got there only five minutes late. I hoped I didn't miss Tsunayoshi or else I would have wasted my time coming here.

"Jyuudaime!" I blinked and looked over to where the shout came from. I was surprised to see some prematurely aging boy following after my big brother. I raised my eyebrows as I pushed off of the entrance and let them come to me.

"Who are you?" My eyes narrowed at the threatening tone. "Do I have to blow you away."

"G-Gokudera!"

"Don't worry I'll take care of her, Jyuudaime!"

"Hah?" I sneered. "Who do you think you're talking to?"

"Why you- Jyuudaime?" The silver haired kid took out what looked like flares or fireworks before Tsunayoshi put a hand to his shoulder with a panicked look on his face.

"Stop, Gokudera! She's my sister!"

"S-Sister?" His face turned ashen as he suddenly dove into a bow as he groveled on the ground. "I'm terribly sorry for the treachery that I have committed, Jyuudaime's sister! To raise a hand against such an important person is unforgivable!" I made a face as I noticed how some stupids stopped to watch.

"It's alright-" I tried reasoning with him to stop bringing attention towards me, but his next shout interrupted what I had to say.

"No, I could never repent for such actions!"

"Just get up. If you want to repent, then you'll stop acting like an idiot and get up." This "Gokudera" looked up and unsurely got up as my glare lightened. I huffed in exasperation before I turned towards my brother and held up the phone.

"Mom told me walk you home." I glanced towards the dejected the other male, wondering what his problem was. "I'm sure she'll want to meet your new lackey."

"H-He's not my lack-!" Tsunayoshi paused in his frantic reply as a dark cloud seemed to hang over his friend. "Uh, I mean... he's a friend."

"I will do you proud, Jyuudaime, Jyuudaime's sister!" I eyebrow raised as he bowed to me, too. I had no clue what this kid was thanking me for, but I didn't care at the moment.

"It's Nakuka. I will respond to no other." I plucked the cigarette out of his mouth and snubbed it out on the ground. "And I will not tolerate smoke when I'm around, got it?" I didn't wait for a reply as I turned around, my bad mood making my actions more bold and commanding than usual.

'Honestly, why does he always bring trouble?'

"Hurry up!" I barked at the two before I muttered to myself. "And I thought this was suppose to be a relaxing day."

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

**Hey, thanks to all those who favorite, comment, or followed this story last chapter. It means a lot and really helps me push out more chapters. I will try to update at least once a week, but I'm extremely busy with school, so I'll try my best.**

**Please comment and let me in on your thoughts, I love seeing what people think!**

**Thanks again and see you all again soon!**


	4. The Sun that Loved Baseball

**Author's Notes:**

**Hello everyone, sorry that it has been such a long time since I've last updated. School has been a pain in the butt.**

**Anyway, I know I make a lot of mistakes in my work since I don't usually go over it due to my strict schedule (and because I'm lazy), so if you guys catch anything then feel free to send me a private message. I'd rather it be in a PM instead of review, because I don't want the reviews to be muddled up with my spelling/grammar mistakes instead of actually having constructive reviews. Thanks for the cooperation!**

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><p>It has been about a week since that foreigner guy started following Tsunayoshi around. For the most part, it hasn't really bothered me since I don't spend that much time with them. Though, I do make sure to yell at them to be quiet when I'm at home. I admittedly don't do much at home or at school; it's simply a "rinse, wash, repeat" cycle for me. How lame, the only thing I have going for me are my good grades.<p>

I turned my eyes to the window, looking at the outside world as the almost too perfect clouds drifted past. 'I wonder if people would notice if I disappeared.' I tilted my head and stared at the grounds below when the brightness of the sky started to burn my eyes, I caught the scrawny figure of my brother below as I leaned against my broom.

'Huh, he team must have lost at baseball again.' I huffed at the thought as I went back to cleaning. I was the only one cleaning the classroom as the other person cleaning with me has already cleaned their side of the room. I simply took my time, not bothering to hurry up. There really wasn't anything waiting for me at home, after all. Eventually, I cleaned my half of the classroom and stored the broom away, taking a moment to look at the baseball field and sighing in irritation.

"The idiot didn't even do half the field." And so I left for the field, taking a moment to grab the rake that we use to make the fields even. I was already halfway across the field before I stopped and took in the sight of another boy leveling out the dirt. I debated going back before he saw me, but I was already there, so I simply moved to an unfinished part of the field and went to work, hoping he wouldn't talk to me.

"Oh! Who are you?" I briefly looked over at the smiling face, not feeling the sunny warmth that he was trying to convey.

"I'm Nakuka." I pushed the mound of dirt in front of me as I quietly muttered my statement, hoping the kid would get a clue and stop talking. They generally do anyway, I guess there's just an air about me that makes people feel awkward talking to me.

"Hey, you're Tsuna's older sister!"

"Ah, not quite... I'm younger than him, I'm just in the grade above."

"So you're really smart, then? That's awesome, I'm not very good at my studies. Baseball is really the only thing I'm good at, but even that is not going well right now." I glanced at the tall boy before shifting my eyes away, not sure what I was suppose to say to that. "My baseball average has been dropping and I might not be able to be a starter for the first time since I started playing baseball."

"I'm sorry to hear that." I feigned sympathy as I know knowing about sports, so empathizing is out of the question. Well, there's that and the fact that there are worse things in life; it may be the bitchy, dead teen inside me, but I think he should just get over it. I died for fuck's sake and I'm not complaining.

"You know, I actually asked your brother for some advice. He said that some more practice might do me some good, I actually plan on working on my batting once I'm done with the field!"

"Why would you ask Tsunayoshi for advice in sports? He knows next to nothing about it." I studied the kid as he shrugged.

"He's been doing well lately in whatever he does, I figured that he would be able to help me."

"Has he?" I muttered quietly to myself. Sure, he did do well in his kendo and volleyball match, but those are probably flukes. There was definitely something off about the whole situation, but I'm not around him enough to know. I simply sighed and put the thought aside, I'll most likely forget about the situation after this.

"Do you have advice for me?"

"What? Uh, not really. I guess all you can do is try your best and don't stress yourself over it." I tensed when an arm was thrown over my shoulder and a boisterous laugh resonated in my ears albeit painfully.

"I knew you were a good person, Nakuka-senpai!"

"I'm only a grade above you, you're actually older than me." I protested weakly as I tried to get out of his grip.

"Haha~ Well, thanks for the help, Nakuka-chan! You I'll take in the equipment when I'm done practicing."

"Oh, okay. Thanks, then." I dropped the rake to the side as he loaded baseballs into a machine, I stood there awkwardly before deciding to be polite and say goodbye to him. He let out a breathy laugh as he slugged a baseball bat over his shoulder.

"See you later, Nakuka-chan!"

'I should have just let him call me senpai.'

And so I left, hearing the crack of a bat against a leather ball as I did so. Once I arrived home I slung my book bag into my room, glared at my brother and read a note that was left behind by my mother.

_"Dinner is on the table. Call me if you need me to get you something from the store. - love, Maman."_

I sighed as I stuck the sticky note back on the fridge, no doubt that my manga reading brother had missed it when he skimped out on his duties and returned home. My irate mood spiked when I spotted the empty dish, knowing that is was Tsunayoshi's, I took a deep breath and yelled up the stairs.

"Tsunayoshi, clean up your mess!"

**Thud**

"Hiiiieeeee!" I huffed as I recognized that wimpy scream of his. What made me raise an eyebrow was something that sounded akin to an explosion from upstairs. I didn't bother checking it out as I yelled once more.

"You better be down here by the time I count to ten. One, two, three!" I stopped when I heard the familiar sound of a body falling down the stairs. I blew out a sigh and ventured out of the kitchen, spotting the collapsed body of my older brother. "I swear..." I shook my head in exasperation as I side stepped him and climbed the stairs. I closed my door behind me and laid on my bed, deciding that sleep would take the day's nonsense away until another loud noise interrupted my attempt at sleep.

"Shut up!"

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><p>I'm so done with this bullshit. I let out an aggravated sigh as I grudgingly did my work, refusing to let the other two members of my group touch it as I feared their stupidity was contagious. Yes, they were that idiotic. Unfortunately, I was also stuck in the same group as Tanpopo.<p>

"We should just split the project in equal parts so that it'll get done faster!" I snorted at the blonde's voice as I glanced at the clock.

'Only ten more minutes.'

"Hey, did you hear me, Nakuka?!" I continued to work on the small project, hoping the blonde would just shut up. "Hey!"

"Shut up. I heard you the first time."

"Then why didn't you answer me?" I gave the raspberry-eyed girl a flat stare as she put her hands on her hips.

"Your plan is stupid and we go through the same process practically every week. You tell me, dandelion." The girl's face turned a healthy shade of red, but I didn't bother listening to her squawking anymore as the bell rung and I dumped everything into my bag.

"Hey, get back here, Nakuka!" I sighed and stopped for a second, debating on what should I do for a split second before I turned around and stuck out my tongue.

"Yeah right, idiot."

"Hey!"

My feet continued to carry me away from the shrieking blonde, my bag and bento swinging on my left side as I went to one of the only spots that guaranteed isolation. I shielded my eyes once I opened the metal door to the roof, noting how the squeak from the door hinges was now fixed.

"Huh, someone sure is diligent in the maintenance department." I shielded my eyes as I walked out into the warm atmosphere, the birds were chirping, and the sun was shining. Truthfully, it would have been a perfect day to a lot of people, too bad that I'm more of a rain kind of girl. Oh, and there was also some sketchy guy looking over the railing.

I stopped and stared at the young teen, waiting for him to acknowledge my presence.

"Huh? Oh, it's you, Nakuka." The lack of honorifics didn't bother me as I stared at the teen, his face seemed unnaturally darker today. My eyes trailed toward the kid's arm as his other one kept a grip on the rusty railing of the fence.

"What happened to your arm?" He let a strangled smile appear on his face as he stared down at the wrapped appendage.

"Ah, when I was practicing yesterday, I accidentally broke it." He seemed to deflate a little as he recounted the event. "It seems like I won't be able to play baseball anymore."

"Why can't you can't play anymore? Your arm will heal."

"Yeah, but by the time it does, then I'll be way behind where I need to be in my skills." His gaze dropped to his feet and I noticed how his hand strained at the force of his grip on the fence.

"You're still in middle school, you can catch up if you set your mind to it." The despair that he displayed didn't make sense to me, even as he turned to me and set a pair of pained brown eyes on me.

"I can't, it's impossible. There's no use." It seemed like he couldn't take it anymore as he turned around and whispered to himself as if I wasn't there. "There's no point if I can't do baseball anymore."

"So that's it? You're just going to give up? There's more to life than baseball, if you're just going to give up on everything because you can't play baseball for a little bit, then you're a bigger fucking idiot then I thought you were." My dark eyes set a hard gaze on him, narrowing as he turn to meet them. A past anger seemed to rise out of me and a person replaced the boy for a few seconds before I shook the memory away. "You can either toughen up and deal with it or end it right now like a pathetic weakling. You're not the only person suffering, so don't act like it."

I proceed to spin around and sharply made my way to the door. I shut the door a little bit harder than necessary and made my way down to my classroom, my bento forgotten in my hand as I sat back down at my assigned seat in class. I didn't have that much of an appetite anymore as I slouched down in my chair, a strangely heavy sensation sitting in my stomach as the few students in the classroom mingled with one another.

"Hey, everyone! Yamamoto is going to jump from the roof!" There was a buzz of noise as everyone rushed out, I looked on and blankly took in the situation. I wasn't stupid, though. I knew that the kid was Yamamoto. Cold reality made me stand, but not follow the flood of students whom headed for the roof.

Instead, I stood by the windows, looking up at the not so distant figure of the baseball player as he gripped the chain link fence with his only available life line. The other being the reason why he was trying to snuff out that life. It was oddly peaceful as the silence made me feel comfortable, yet so isolated. The fact that I might be staring at someone's final moments never made me cry or feel bad for anything that I might have said or done to contribute to it. I simply took it in as a fact, as in the fact that this Yamamoto was going to jump.

And the fact if it was anyone who should jump, it should be me.

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><p>Yamamoto stared at the grounds below him, he ignored the mass of students who muttered worriedly behind him. He didn't care, though. They didn't care about him, they only cared about how he played. It didn't matter anymore, he couldn't play baseball. He couldn't do it. He wasn't able to. He's worthless now, the baseball gods abandoned him when he needed them most.<p>

Maybe it was a a sign, a sign that told he was no good. Maybe it was the world trying to tell him he wasn't good enough. He wasn't after all. He didn't get good grades. He couldn't win that practice game yesterday and made his team lose, and even though no one blamed him, he still saw it as his fault. No, no one would blame him, because they believed he was perfect. They believed he could do any sport perfectly with just the flick of the wrist. Sure, he was good, but no one seemed to acknowledge the countless hours he poured into the sports he did, baseball in particular.

No, no one acknowledged that. Not even his own father. He was aware of the fact that his father was proud of him, but that only made it worse. He failed his own father now, he couldn't do the one thing that made his father proud. He, Yamamoto Takeshi, couldn't make his father proud. He couldn't make anyone proud, especially her.

A faded smile, curtained by silky black locks, flashed through his mind as he leaned forward just enough to incur the cries of his admirers and so called friends. It didn't matter, though, he couldn't keep up with the unspoken promise that he made with that one person. That person who was so soft and loving, enveloping him in warm hugs as she silently listened to him on his bad days. She was the light in their family, the sunshine in their sky; she was the sun that grew cold and withered away, leaving them to stumble in the dark. The same sun that he tried to take the place of as he flashed the same smile that he inherited from her.

And just like in most of his games, the sun shone down on him, cheering him on as he sent baseballs towards it, hoping it would reach it, only to be disappointed when it eventually fell to earth. He knew how much the sport meant to her and he intended for her to one day seem him on the big screen with his own uniform in a stadium full of cheering fans, but no one told him that the sun could die. No one.

He couldn't do the one thing that made people proud of him and he knew he was worthless. Just one jump and he would rid everyone of his worthless self.

And that was when he heard a yelp and thud behind him. Yamamoto decided to quench his curiosity one last time before he joined the sun as he turned around.

He was vaguely surprised when he saw the Sawada. He small feeling of resentment went through him as he pleaded with him to not jump. What would he know?! His potential is rising and no one relies on him to carry the rest of the team on his back! He should understand to some extent, right? It's better to die than to fail.

So, he said it, watching how Tsuna's eyes went wide in surprise. Ah, so he didn't understand. And so, his anger spiked when Tsuna said they were different. Yamamoto could tell, he could tell how arrogant Tsuna had gotten when the kendo match was over. A bitter taste was left in his mouth when he could imagine himself in his shoes. He was in his shoes at one point, too.

"No, it's because I'm no good!" Blatant surprise colored his face as if he couldn't believe his ears. He continued to be stunned as the smaller male explained himself before proceeding to run away. He couldn't say why, but he felt his hand reach forward as he grabbed onto the boy's shirt.

"Wait, Tsuna." He didn't expect the boy to fall back into him as the next thing he knew, he was staring up at the blue sky. Panic and regret flooded him as he continued to fall. He let out a strangled scream as gravity tugged his being and at that moment, he realized that he didn't want to die. For some reason, Tsuna seemed to have transformed and lost his clothes at the same time, but more importantly, transformed into a different person as he grabbed onto Yamamoto.

An odd feeling of peace filled him once he did so. His eyes turned up toward the sun for a split second, he swore he saw a pair of familiar dark eyes watching him fall. Before he knew it, he was on the ground. The two were silent as the both recuperated from their near death. His wide eyes took in the ground as his thoughts reeled. Shame flood his system as he realized how foolish he was to try to end his life, not taking the time to realize how hurt his father would have been. He would have been purposely leaving his father alone if he was successful with his suicide. His mother wouldn't have been happy either, maybe she would have cried?

A shiver ran up his body at the thought, so he casted it away and focused on the relief of being alive.

"You're amazing, Tsuna. I don't know what I was thinking! Nothing good comes out of my idiocy." He rubbed at the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Yamamoto..." Tsuna stared at him before the two started to laugh together, almost hysterically as they almost met their end. And for the first time in weeks, he felt happy.

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><p>Nakuka was surprised when she saw her brother fall from the roof along with Yamamoto. She watched in disbelief as the two fell faster and faster towards the grounds below. She continued to stare as the two made it out all right, being saved from a naked Tsunayoshi that briefly had a spring pop out of his head. She couldn't believe the miracle that occurred as the two boys seemed to be laughing, so she ignored the students returning to class as she stared. She did die and come to life as new person, though, who's to say that something like that was impossible.<p>

And so she continued on with class, her mind not quite attached to the real world as she did her work and eventually headed home. The attempted jump would plague her mind for the rest of the night and even through her dreams as she watched a past figure fall from the ledge of her school and eventually herself as the floor caved under her and dropped her towards the earth. She knew the person would bloom into a field of red spider lilies, oddly dripping a metallic fluid as she too fell towards the field. Only she would not become a field herself. No, she always woke up before her dream could dictate her past self's fate. And so the process would repeat into the next day until she finally made herself forget about the adrenaline inducing nightmare, but even then, she couldn't shake the memory the clung to the back of her mind as she went about her day as Sawada Nakuka. The girl with two loving parents and a wimpy older brother. The girl who was born with one life, not two.

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><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

**Wow, my writing got pretty angsty towards the end. Sorry 'bout that. :P Were any of you surprised by the section with Yamamoto?**

**Again, I'm sorry for the long wait. I've just had so much reading to do that I'm swamped by it.**

**Anyhow, I would like to know what you all thought about the chapter. And thanks to all of you new followers/favoriters!**

**Hopefully, I'll post another chapter soon. Not just for this story, but for my Ouran fanfic as well.**

**See you guys later!**

**Edit:**

**By the way, what Nakuka says is merely how she views it. I don't blame anyone for feeling down once in a while or think they're weak for feeling that way. Nakuka's just a bitch. :P**


	5. Onigiri Hustler

The sun is shining the birds are chirping, and I'm in a bad mood, but what else is new? It seems as of lately, Tsunayoshi has been bring a lot more people into the house. First it was that silver haired lap dog, then the baseball kid, and then there was that one girl whom wrecked our kitchen last week.

I was a little more than pissed when I saw all the shattered dishes and splintered cabinet doors, but Reborn assured me that they would all be replaced without any strain on our budget. I asked why the room was like that in the first place and it seemed as if they were playing russian roulette and the loser- which turned out to be the girl- had to strip down to their undergarments. He said that the girl and my mother were so embarrassed that the dishes my mother was carrying fell to the floor in her shock. There was an element of disbelief in the story that gave me a suspicion that the story wasn't true, but I didn't speak up about it. I didn't care one way or another as long as everything was replaced for free.

Anyway, to the matter at hand, the reason for my bad mood was that a new person seemed to join the household. That person happened to be a small child. A small, whiny child. A small, whiny, annoying child. And I'm this close to snapping and wringing his tiny little neck. Snot nosed brat should be grateful that I like Mother enough that I don't murder his cow print covered ass. On top of that, today we had a joint home economics class and made rice balls.

"We'll give the riceballs we made in home economics class today to you boys." My eyebrow twitched as I heard the girls chorus in a cheerful manner. I could only imagine what nefarious plans some of these girls had in their heads in order to gain the affections of their crushes. No doubt, they're going by the adage of getting to a man through his stomach.

"Give me a break. Why should we give them our riceballs if they haven't even done anything to earn them? What a bunch of bullshit." A frown pulled at the corner of my lips as I blankly stared at the girls rushing towards certain boys.

"Couldn't agree with you more." My eyes drifted over to a girl with dark, wavy hair. She too had a disinterested expression on her face as she made no move to deliver her plate of food. "Name's Kurokawa Hana. You?"

"Sawada Nakuka, nice to meet you." I looked back at the mob of people as I attached the nicety to my sentence. I may be a bitch, but I can at least be polite to strangers. My eyes found a rather large group and recognized the two boys that Tsunayoshi seemed to have become friends, but I brought my eyes away from them once I heard the girl speak again.

'What was her name again?'

"So, you're Sawada's older sister? I haven't seen you around the first year's hall, so you must be an upperclassman." I blinked as I moved to a chair and sat in it, gesturing Hana to take the one across from me.

"Upperclassman yes, but I'm actually his little sister. I'm about a year younger than him." Her eyebrow raised at the information as she leaned an elbow on the table, her eyes flickering to the mob as she caught sight of the tips of gravity-defying hair. She gave a soft huff of disapproval before she turned back to me.

"You skipped two grades? You must be pretty smart." I shrugged at the suggestion as I gingerly picked up a riceball and took a bite. "You're not giving that to anyone?"

"Nope, if people want some, then they should make it themselves. By the way, what did you put in yours? Mine are plain."

"Chicken."

"Wanna trade?" I help up my remaining two as the girl shrugged, giving an indifferent answer before she switched two of the riceballs when I said that I didn't care what I got. So, we sat there in content silence when my eyes caught an older looking teen snuck the crowd and switched her plate of riceballs with that one girl who came to my house. I raised an eyebrow as I felt slightly impressed with her ability of not getting noticed. "Did you see that?"

"See what?" The older girl raised an eyebrow at me as she took a bit of her riceball, pulling it away from her face to inspect what type she got.

"There was an older girl, maybe a high schooler, who just switched her plate with the girl over there without her knowing it."

"With Kyoko? What girl are you talking about?" I looked around, looking for the admittedly pretty girl.

"Well, she's pretty and she has pinkish hair. Oh, there she is." I pointed to the teen as Hana leaned over to see where my appendage was pointing to.

"Where?"

"Right there."

"I still don't see her." I gave a small sigh as I hunched over and nibbled at my last riceball.

"Never mind. I'll just point her out to you later." Hana didn't seem bothered by this as she gave me a half-hearted shrug.

"Whatever. Oh, Kyoko is giving her riceballs to Sawada." My eyes roamed over to where she was looking and caught sight of my brother right as he seemed to fall over and suddenly he was rushing around the room in his underwear.

"Eat the riceballs as if I were to die!" Eyes turned his way as he started to eat everyone's riceballs, cried of dismay were heard as he seemed to finally calm down and return to normal.

'Huh, is he turning into an exhibitionist?' I raised my eyebrow at the thought and decided to ignore it as I followed Hana to her friend Kyoko.

"There's no mistaking it." Hana seemed to nod sagely as we stood in front of the stunned Kyoko. I seemed to be lost as I blinked between the two, not sure where the wavy haired girl was going with this. "You should take this as Sawada's confession, Kyoko."

"Eh? No way."

"What do you mean?" She turned to me as she crossed her arms with a smirk.

"Obviously, he's trying to say that if anyone ate her riceballs, then he'll kill them." I gave her disbelieving expression before I dead-panned, not believing everyone's wayward thoughts as it seemed, judging by the bits of conversations I've caught from other people around us, that everyone thought this way. I shook my head as I came to the conclusion that I was surrounded by middle schoolers in heat, of course they would take it as a love confession.

"I guess if you want to take it that way..."

"No, really... I didn't mean it like that!" I heard a loud voice shout behind me right before I felt someone bump me from behind, my hand instinctively tightened around the riceball as the person stumbled back.

"S-Sorry!" I stared blankly at the remnants of rice that stuck to my fingers, a few clumps of the riceball on the floor as my small hands couldn't keep them contained. I could feel my eyes darkening as I glared, turning my eyes up at the all-too-familiar person as I lowered my voice into a frigid tone, purposely enunciating the name slowly.

"Tsunayoshi."

"Hieee! I'm sorry!" My instincts lead my arm to whip out as I snatched up the collar of my brother's shirt right as he turned to run away.

"Where do you think you're going, Tsunayoshi? You should pay for wasting perfectly good food that I spent my time on. Buy me some after school."

"B-But I don't have any money."

"Then you shouldn't have destroyed my riceball." Thought technically, he didn't destroy it, but if he couldn't catch the loophole, then who am I to point it out?

"Umm, Nakuka?" I blinked at the hesitant voice as my ire was forgotten for the moment as I turned to see the one person that seemed to be appearing a lot these days. "You can... have some of mine if you'd like."

"Uh, sure... I guess, thanks." I blinked at the blonde girl before me before I slowly took one of the morsels and took a bite. I raised an eyebrow when I caught the gaze of the raspberry eyed Tanpopo. "What is it?"

"How... How is it?" Honestly, this girl was being very ambiguous. First, she's bothering every second of my school life and now she's offering me stuff and acting like a bashful school girl (though, I guess she is) about to ask her crush to the prom.

"It's pretty good. You used vegetables and chicken?" The girl nodded. "I like it."

"Hmph, it's not like I need your preference." I heard the girl mutter, but she didn't make any noise of complaint as she quickly spun around and briskly walked away.

'What's her problem?' I raised both of my eyebrows before I sharpened my metaphorical daggers and glared at my brother.

"This doesn't get you off the hook. You better buy me some or there'll be hell to pay." The boy stammered before he ran off towards the dunderhead duo, comprising of one silver haired smoker (I'm surprised it hasn't turned a nasty shade of yellow with all his smoking) and one laughing hyena. A whistle broke my concentration as Hana leaned against my shoulder.

"Tell me, Nakuka. Have you ever been a yankee?"

"If it'll stop these idiots from speaking around me, then yes." Hana let out a small bark of laughter as she finally took her weight off of me.

"You know, you're alright, not like the other monkeys in this school."

"I feel honored." I said dryly, though I suppose a compliment is a compliment. "You are tolerable as well."

"How nice. Well, we should get to class. See you later, Nakuka." I nodded and said my farewell as the two girls walked away, leaving me to head to my hallway alone.

'Huh, I guess there are intelligible people in middle school."

And so the day ended with my earlier feeling of irritation gone, feeling at ease as I had finally found people that didn't make me want to slam their faces into the wall. I dug my house keys out of my pocket and opened the door, instantly being greeted by my mom as she poked her head out of the kitchen.

"Na-chan, you're home." I nodded as she fully came out in her usual apron. "How was school?"

"Good." The brown haired woman nodded cheerfully and I was about to retreat into my room until I spotted the cow suit of a certain snotty child.

"Gyahaha! The great Lambo-sama has arrived. Bow down servant!" Suddenly, I remembered what had caused my irritation from this morning as I calmly bent my knees and looked down at the afro-ed child.

"Never. call me. your servant. ever. again." The child seized up and I didn't bother to see the results of my not-so-subtle threat as I headed upstairs and shut the door to my room, tossing my book bag on my bed in brief aggravation.

"Damn kids."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes<strong>

**So, this chapter was pretty short, but I don't have much time today, so I kinda had to make it this long. I also decided to skip some of the chapters in the manga. I'm probably going to do the same thing in the future and pretty much just introduce the main characters before moving on to the exciting parts. The daily life arc never really interested me and it felt like it was pretty much just filler. So, hopefully we'll get to the Kokuyo Arc soon.**

**Reviews are welcomed and thanks to all of you new followers/favorites. If you see mistakes, don't hesitate to PM me.**

**Hopefully, a new chapter will be up soon.**

**See ya!**


	6. Supplexing Kissy Face Perverts

It was a beautiful day when school started today. I had a goodnight's sleep, ate some delicious breakfast when I woke up, and my wimpy brother decided to man up... Hah, you'd think I'd actually say that? No, this gym bullshit is pissing me off. The subject that we're concentrating on for today interests me, but the approach is less than appreciated.

**Fwwwip~**

"I swear, if he blows that whistle one more fucking time..." I grumbled under my breath as I glared daggers at the gym teacher. The fucker seems to take joy in establishing his dominance through loud noises. Just like that fucking chihuahua down the street from my house, all bark and no bite.

"Alright girls, since we're learning self defense today, you'll be paired up with the boys and they'll be your partners!" My eyebrow twitched as I saw him raise the metal whistle to his mouth again. "Find your partners!"

**Fwwwip~**

"Fucking hell..." I grumbled as I stood there, not bothering to find a partner as I settled on taking whoever was left. I watched the crowd with disinterest as the middle schoolers buzzed in anxiety about being paired up with the opposite sex (or excited in some cases). When the crowd started to thin out, I noticed that there was this one kid that everyone seem to avoid. He turned my way and I awkwardly looked away as we briefly made eye contact, the damage was already done as he came rushing my way with an excited expression on his face.

"My name is Sasagawa Ryohei! Be my partner to the extreme!" I raised an eyebrow and used my momentum to push myself off of the wall. This kid was irritatingly loud; I have sensitive ears, he should be considerate. I abandoned my irritation for the moment as I nodded and sat down and started to stretch my legs.

"Sawada Nakuka."

"Hey, are you related to Sawada? That's extreme!" I almost blanched as the guy pushed me further than I'm used to stretching, causing my inner thigh muscles to protest. I masked the pain as I switched into a new stretch, determined to not let Sasagawa tear any of my muscles in the future.

"Th-That's what the last name's there for. Tsunayoshi's my older brother." I ignored the fact that he could mean anyone with the surname of Sawada, but I assumed he meant my brother.

"Extreme! You must be strong, like Sawada, then!" I blinked in confusion as he let me up, abandoning the stretches that we were suppose to do. I faintly heard the gym teacher instruct us on how to do a particular move, but I was more focused on what Ryohei was doing.

"H-Hey!" My instincts had me in a crouch as Ryohei punched towards me. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, you dodged my punch! You must join the boxing club!"

"Hey, wait! What the fuck are you going on about?!" My eyebrow twitched as I was forced to avoid his punches.

"Oi! Sasagawa, what is the meaning of this?!" I decided to create distance between us and try to let the teacher handle it as he came over. "You're suppose to help teach self defense, not assault the-" I made a face and prepared to run, watching as the teacher went down with one merciless punch.

"Ah, cut it out! I'm not joining your club, stop chasing me!"

"Come back and fight me, Sawada!"

"Stop chasing me, you fucking idiot!" I weaved through the pairs, careful to not be caught by the white haired maniac.

"Stop this nonsense this instant!" I blinked in surprise when I heard a familiar voice speak up. A certain blonde girl stood between the two of us with her hands to her hips, her raspberry eyes narrowed in a glare. "She doesn't want to fight you, so knock it off."

"I want to test her strength! Her brother is extreme, so she must be, too!"

"Hey!" I deadpanned as Tanpopo failed to stop the third year student, Ryohei rushed past her, causing her to topple over and fall to the side.

"Ah! Sasagawa-senpai, please don't hit the underclassman!" The protests of the younger boxing club members were ignored until a sweet female voice spoke up in confusion.

"Onii-chan?"

"Kyoko? What are you doing here?" I sighed in relief once I noticed the boy had stopped chasing me. I ventured closer towards the orange haired girl, thinking that my lifeline would keep this boxing freak away.

"Ah, I was dropping off some forms. Where's the teacher?" That's when her eyes spotted the knocked out form of the adult in the middle of the gym floor. "What happened?!"

"Oh, you see, he decided to take a nap since he was feeling tired!" Half the students deadpanned at Ryohei's explanation, the other half followed when this Kyoko girl took it without question.

"I see, then I'll leave the forms here for when he wakes up." I eyebrow twitched as I watched the girl sunnily set the stack on top of the table where the teacher had left all of his belongings. She then turned to me and gave me a surprised look.

"Oh, you must be Tsuna-kun's sister! I recognize you from one of your family pictures when I came over that one time." A certain memory of a passed out girl and a destroyed kitchen flashed in my mind. "I'm Sasagawa Kyoko and that's my older brother, Ryohei!"

'Huh, she doesn't seem to be the type to cause destruction...' Never the less, I introduced myself.

"Onii-chan, you aren't causing Nakuka-chan any trouble, are you?"

"Of course not, Kyoko! We're having a good time boxing!" I deadpanned at the kid. We weren't even boxing, but I guess I'll let that slide for now. It wasn't worth the effort to correct him. "She's a fast one, Kyoko! I am extremely going to have another member for my boxing club!"

"My, onii-chan, you look so happy!" I deadpanned at the sunny siblings, wondering what I have done in life to deserve this.

'Ah, wait, I guess it's because of my bitchiness.'

"That's great and all, but I'll pass." The bell rang and I took one look at the (still) passed out teacher and left, not bothering to say goodbye to either of the siblings.

"Wait, you need to join the club!" I instantly hid inside a classroom as I heard a set of thundering footsteps run past the room.

"What the fuck is with everyone associated with Tsunayoshi? Maybe he's blackmailing these people to be friends with him and they're trying to take it out on me... Nah." I instantly threw out the thought as I stood up and headed back towards the locker, ready to change out of my gym clothes as I continued to hear faint yells of "extreme" and such.

* * *

><p><em>A few days later<em>

"Hey, mom? Can I stay home from school today? I'm really tired." The short haired woman blinked before she gave me a look.

"You shouldn't skip so much school, Na-chan."

"I won't." I was pleased when she sighed in resignation and picked up the phone, telling me to go back upstairs and go to sleep. I gladly followed her instructions and flopped back into my pink anime bed, the same one that I woke up in all those years ago.

I don't know for how long I was asleep, but I vaguely remembered my mom coming in and telling me that she was going to go shopping before I fell back to sleep again.

**BAM**

I blinked and grudgingly got out of bed as I frowned.

'I swear, that better not be that cow brat. He should just go back to wherever he came from.' I was wrong as I saw a head of carmine pink instead of an afro.

"Bianchi? What's going on?" I stared at our resident of two weeks before I looked downstairs and saw a man collapsed on the last step with a whole cake smashed into his face, looking like he fell down the whole staircase. I learned a while ago that Bianchi's cooking was not... good, whoever ate it would get sick to their stomachs, so I avoided tasting anything she had a hand in. She was an okay person, though, kept saying how she loved Reborn, though. It was kind of creepy and annoying. Why would she let her love make her act so stupid? I don't get it. Love is pretty pointless, it fades over time anyway._  
><em>

"It's been a long time since I killed someone for the good of the world." She stared down at the man with her hands on her hips, a clear look of disdain set on her pretty face as she walked down a few steps.

"Bianchi! You! Don't kill people in my house!" I heard a familiar voice sputter before another voice joined in, a deeper one that told me it was an adult male.

"Such a tomboy as usual." I emerged from the top of the stairs as my brother squawked about the man being alive, watching as he peeled back the food caked cloth from his face. It tossed it to the side without a second thought as he looked up at Bianchi with a sketchy smile. In the blink of an eye, the man leaped up the stairs and planted a kiss on the older teen's cheek.

"Now I like you even more!" Sufficient enough to say, he ended back down the stairs.

"Nice kick." I commented, stepping past her and stopping next to the man who had another meal smashed in his face.

"Wha- Who is that trespasser?"

'Isn't that the question of the century.' I toed the man's body, gauging to see how alive he was on a scale of 1 to 10. 'Definitely a 5.'

"He's the doctor I was talking about." The baby tutor- I forgot he was still living here- ignored Tsunayoshi's disbelief. "I called him over from Italy. Dr. Shamal." I watched in slight amusement as he bounced back to live, heading towards Bianchi with what seemed like a kissy face.

"Non need to be embarrassed, Bianchi! How about a kiss?"

"Go away!" I briefly wondered how many plates of food she had with her and where she got them, but I was more distracted with the entertainment that I was receiving. I caught a few words about how he likes women and that he's a kissing freak, but I ignored that in favor of hearing Tsunayoshi talk about some incurable disease.

"You're sick?"

"A-Ah, no! I'm fine, really!" I raised an eyebrow as I caught something marring his skin. I grabbed his wrist and stretched his arm out, not letting him pull it back in as I read the skull on his forearm.

"You peed your bed until you were ten?" I gave him a deadpanned look as he started to sweat and blush.

"I-It's not-" I caught another speech bubble from another skull on the other side of his arm.

_"I'm still scared of Nakuka when she gets angry. I secretly go in my room and play nursery rhymes when she yells at me."_

My lips twitched in amusement as I felt the urge to laugh bubble up for once, it was easily held back, though the look of mortification on his face was amazing.

"Are you some kind of masochist, Tsunayoshi? That's some _Scarlet Letter_ shit right there." No doubt, he probably didn't get the reference, but my message seemed to have gotten through to him as he looked like someone who wanted to die right there and then. One look at the baby and I could tell that he was fairly amused as well.

"Shamal," he interrupted the man harassing the other female. "This is Tsuna, the one with the skull disease."

'Skull disease? There's no way that's real...'

"Hm? Oh yeah, that was why I was called over for by you." He smoothed his hair back.

'Hang on a second. He reminds me of someone. Ah, he has the same hairstyle as the lapdog.'

"Sorry about that, I seem to be oblivious of my surroundings at times." I blinked in surprise when the man put his palms to Tsunayoshi's chest before he held that up like he was about to do jazz hands.

"Excuse me... Sorry, but I don't examine guys."

"Oh yeah, I forgot."

"Hey!" Bianchi seems to be just as amused as I was, putting a hand to her face in order to hide her laughter.

"On the other hand, who's this cutie?" I deadpanned as the grown man turned to me.

"None of your business." I silently hoped my attitude would turn the man away, but I shouldn't have expected much judging by how persistent he was with Bianchi.

"Oh, a cold one. That's how I like my women." I didn't bother hiding my distaste as I crossed my arms.

"I'm, like, half your age. Don't make me report you as a pedophile." I sent him a glare, my eyes widening when I felt a pair of fleshy and- _shudders_- wet lips on my cheek. "Ugh!" I instantly grabbed onto his shoulders and kneed him where the sun doesn't shine, the previous kiss on the cheek ruining the satisfaction I felt from watching him go down. "Touch me again and you die."

This Shamal douche seemed to set his target on another victim as Kyoko walked in through the door, not taking the resilient man seriously as he tried to hit on her.

"Oh, Tsuna is entering dying will mode without the bullet." Tsunayoshi suddenly had a crazy look in his eyes as his shirt ripped off his body and he spouted something about protecting Kyoko. The girl only laughed and commented on the strange markings, causing the scrawny boy to pathetically huddle into fetal position, tears streaming down his face. His wails of self pity was annoying, so I was glad when this Shamal pervert spoke up.

"Fine fine, I'll cure you. There's no time left. Hurry and wear your shirt." The man seemed to pity him enough as he pushed his hair back. I listened with interest as the man stated that he had 666 diseases and that he called out the effects with an opposing illness. I was skeptical that diseases could be used that way, especially with mosquitos, but I let it slide as I headed to my room, determined to get that needed sleep.

"I'm so done with this shit. All these weird people coming in and acting like they own the place. Just wait, one day I'll supplex their asses."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

**So, school is still a pain in the butt. It's consuming so much of my time. But I digress, I hope you all thought this short chapter was entertaining enough for you guys.**

**If you guys don't know, supplex is a wresting move where the person grabs their opponent from behind and bend backwards so that the opponent's head practically smashes into the floor.**

**Also, thanks to all you people who favorite and followed recently. I'm only one person off from 100 followers! *Parties*_  
><em>**

**Reviews are appreciated. Again, please send me a PM if you see mistakes.**

**See you guys later~**


	7. Questions Left Unsaid

The sound of pages being flipped filled my room, another boring day lead me to skim through a book that I have already read. It was the weekend, so I didn't really have anything to do and I really don't have anyone to hang out with, so I was content enough to hang out at home. Though, that in itself is starting to become a less desirable option, seeing as our house keeps getting more and more rowdy guests.

"Tch." 'They pretty much live here at this point.' I narrowed my eyes at the words on the page before flipping it once more. Not only do we have one booger monster running around the house, but now we have another tiny human as well. Though, this kid seems more well mannered than the cow-printed fucktard.

I put down my book when I heard my door open, my mother poking her head into my room.

"Na-cahn. I'm going to a piano recital with some friends. Would you look after the kids for me? I already asked Tsu-kun as well."

"Uh-huh." My monotonous hum satisfied her as she smiled and promised to bring back cake, seemingly glad to have a day to herself for once. Of course, I had no plans to interact with the snot monsters or with Tsunayoshi. He could deal with them himself, bastard needed to help around the house like the rest of us. And so I picked up my book again, planning on rereading my favorite parts.

"Waaahh!" My eyebrow twitched as I heard crying and some muffled shouting. I cursed whoever it was that designed our house with such thin walls as I heaved myself off my bed, tossing the book onto my covers and striding towards the door with annoyance.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I asked the question as I opened the door with unnecessary force, my hand gripping the door knob with enough force to turn my knuckles white. I blinked in surprise when I felt something grab onto my leg, making me feel wary as I spotted the egg-head kid. "Um, what?" My eyebrow raised as I felt uncomfortable with I-pin hugging my leg.

"Ah! The pinzu time bomb!" I felt lost as Tsunayoshi suddenly grabbed the kid off of my leg and threw it out the window as per lap dog 's (when did he get here?) suggestion.

"Tsuna-san! What are you doing to I-pin-chan?!"

"Now's not the time for that! When the pinzus on his head become one, he'll explode!" I raised an eyebrow and watched as some pure magic happened. The kid was hanging just outside the window by her hair as the symbols on her forehead changed.

"Ah, there's only three pinzus left!" And soon enough, it came down to one. Everything happened all at once as Reborn pulled out a gun just as something started to explode, replacing the blast with a cloud of pink smoke.

"You shot I-pin with the ten year bazooka!"

"Yes, the explosion has carried over to the future."

"Then that's ten years later I-pin!" I honed in to what they were all staring at, the smoke started to clear as a figure was seen standing in it.

"Why am I on top of the roof in the middle of deliver?" A chinese girl stood with confusion on her face, holding a take-out delivery container in her hands as she looked around in confusion.

"I-Pin's a girl!" There were a choruses of disbelief as Tsunayoshi shouted in surprise.

"Do you know her?" My gaze shifted over to a brown haired girl that I've never seen before. I decided not to question who she was, seeing as Tsunayoshi seemed to have a habit of bringing strange people into the house.

"Ah, Mr. Kawahira is not going to be happy if I'm late again." The twin braided girl glanced at her wrist watch before her eyes moved onto my brother. "Hello!" She smiled as if she knew him, making me wonder just what was going on here. They exchanged pleasantries as there were frequent comments about how the girl was normal before all hell started to break loose once Lambo came into the picture. Then again, when does it not become chaotic?

"Everybody run!" I blinked in surprise when the girl started to develop symbols on her forehead as well, just like the kid. I took the hint and left the room, honestly done with their antics as I shut the door to my room before hearing a rather loud noise that sounded akin to an explosion.

"I feel like I should ask, but something tells me that it'll be more trouble than it's worth." I sighed, feeling a slight rumble in my stomach. "Ah, I should probably go down and eat something." I blinked lethargically before I flopped back down onto my bed. "Whatever."

* * *

><p>It didn't faze me much when I heard that students were being attacked by some unknown people. There were whispers from my classmate that it was from a rival school, but the whole situation struck me as odd. Though, it didn't necessarily pertain to me, so I didn't think much over it. I simply sat in class, not bothered by the large amount of absentees.<p>

"Geez, this place looks like a ghost town." I glanced at the blonde haired girl standing next to me. By how close she was standing next to me, it seemed like she wanted to start a conversation, but I wasn't in the mood to be bothered.

"Mhm." I slid down my chair, crossing my arms as I prepared to go to take a nap.

"I heard Hibari-san even went out to investigate the problem." I raised an eyebrow and looked at the girl.

"Hibari-san?" She sent me a surprised look as she fully turned towards me.

"You don't know who he is?"

"I wouldn't be asking if I did."

"Right. I forgot that you were anti-social." She sighed a bit. I wasn't bothered by the half-hearted insult, I guess it was true to some extent. "Well, he's the head of the disciplinary committee. He's a pretty violent guy who really hates crowds."

"He has a phobia?"

"Ah, I wouldn't say that. He just really hates crowds." She made a face at my question, almost as if she remembered something unpleasant. "He tends to get what he wants by beating people up, it's best not to cross him." She shifted her eyes away to look at the window before she looked back at me. "Though, it's been a few days. It's kind of weird how he isn't back by now."

"Hm, just let it play out." I closed my eyes. "I'm sure it'll be fine. There's only so many people they can beat up before the police catch them. DNA evidence and all that."

"I guess..." I let the Tanpopo's unsure voice be the last thing I heard as I drifted to sleep, glad that the beatings have at least given me free class time as the teacher called off our lessons.

~Transition_\('-')/_ Transition~

In the end, Tanpopo woke me up, saying how it turned out that we only had a half day at school today. As I slung my book bag over my shoulder, I was interrupted.

"Are you walking alone?"

"Yeah, what of it?" I raised an eyebrow at the person who seems to be popping up constantly in my school life.

"It's just... school's going to be shut down for a while because of this..." She shifted her eyes away. "It's just dangerous. And, uh, someone weak, like you, will easily be beaten up." Her voice gained its usual strength by the time she ended her sentence, though her face strangely didn't match the slightly malicious jab.

"I'll just beat up whoever bothers me." I brushed her off as I nonverbally ended the conversation, choosing to head home and enjoy the unexpected vacation from school.

"Is that a Nanimori student?" I continued to walk as a pair of women talked to each other. I glanced behind me and saw that they stopped to stare at me. They weren't very quiet as I could hear everything they were saying.

"How can she be walking alone like that? Doesn't she know how dangerous it is?"

"We should also get going, we don't want to be caught up in anything." The other woman agreed and I let out a scoff once I was far enough away.

"Tch, what a bunch of idiots." I frowned at their behavior as I finally saw my house. What caught my attention was the small group conglomerated outside of the gates, though. "Where are you going?"

"Huh, Nakuka!" Tsunayoshi stumbled as he rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, no where, really."

"Doesn't answer my question." I sent him a blank stare that said that I wasn't believing his innocent behavior.

"Ah, well, I-" He could tell that his floundering didn't help his case, but his relief was evident as I sighed.

"Does mom know you're heading out?" He nodded. "Okay, then. Just come home before dark, mom will be worried if you don't." The scrawny boy agreed to my terms as his small group of friends headed out to who knows where. I didn't let that bother me as I walked into the house, temporarily setting my book bag in the hallway as I walked into the kitchen.

"Oh, you're home!" My mother smiled at me as she started to fold another article of laundry. "You just missed Tsu-kun."

"I know, I passed him outside." I absentmindedly picked up a towel and folded, setting it on the pile of other folded clothes.

"Oh! Then can you run outside really quick and tell Tsu-kun, Bianchi, and Reborn-kun that dinner will be at 18:30? And Fuuta-kun, too, though Reborn-kun told me that he'll be at a friends house for a while, so you might not be able to." I sighed in exasperation before nodding and jogging out of the house, half hoping that the group would still be within the vicinity.

'Shit, they're not here.' A frown settled onto my face as I scanned the streets, trying to catch a glimpse of a head of gravity defying hair. I continued to jog to the end of the street, checking the street corners as I did so. I was set on thinking that they were too far away to catch up with now as I stopped and sighed.

'This would be easier if we just had cellphones." I deadpanned and glanced at the random teen on the street as he clacked away on his phone, most likely texting some girl he hooked up with. He clicked off the device and locked eyes with me. I was going to look away, but he suddenly spoke.

"Looking for someone?" I set him a slightly wary look as I nodded, choosing not to speak to the stranger. "Well, they went that way." The brown haired teen pointed to my left as he sent me a pleasant smile. The smile didn't exactly feel genuine, but most of mine generally weren't, so who am I to judge?

"Thanks." I nodded to the boy and jogged in the direction he had pointed to. It was only about three minutes later when I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, my ire setting in for the first time this week.

"What the hell. They're not here." I sighed in agitation. "You know what? Fuck this. They can find out when dinner is themselves." And so I spun around, walking towards home as I did so. The sun was rather pleasant on my back and I let the quiet day calm my nerves down, listening to the noises of the cool autumn day as I did so. I tuned back into my surroundings and noticed how close my house was.

"Huh, that was pretty fast." There was something off, but I brushed it off once I couldn't put a finger on it. And so I ignored the off-putting feeling and went up the steps that lead to the front door; at least, that's what I would have done if my foot hadn't phased right through the concrete step.

"What the fu-" My eyes widened as everything seemed to distort and suddenly snapped into a different image once I blinked. I was suddenly in a chipped, barren room with concrete walls. The place seemed to have deteriorate quite a bit from its original state as I could still see faint patches of sunshine yellow paint in certain corners of the room. I looked around in confusion and narrowed eyes, noting how my back was to a door. I reached for it and tried the knob, but it didn't budge. Another sigh escaped my lips as I backed away from the prison-like door and sat on the ground, annoyed with the fact that I was still in my school uniform.

"Well, what now?" I mumbled into the air before I closed my eyes, cursing whatever entity plagued my second life with such a weird experience. "Ah well, I guess it beats studying."

~Transition_\('-')/_Transition~

Tsuna nervously stared at the screen with both Kyoko and Haru on it. He gulped his nerves down as he trembled, watching as one of the bloody twins started to tip a bottle of sulfuric acid over his crush's head. He finally screamed out at them to stop and said that he will stab himself with the knife that Birds had. He couldn't let them get hurt just because they are connected with his group, they didn't deserve it. They weren't a part of the mafia, he felt that he was responsible for their situation and so he had to fix it himself.

"I'll do it for you." He set a determined, but nervous expression on his face as he denied Bianchi's offer.

"It's all right, I'll do it myself." And so he took the knife and was ready to plunge it into himself when there was a commotion on the screen. His heart leapt with hope and joy as he saw Dr. Shamal protect Kyoko (and Hana, but he didn't really notice her there) while Haru was protected by TYL I-Pin and Lambo.

He felt relief and optimism as he looked towards his tutor whom had a familiar smirk on his face.

"Family protect each other." And then he was launched towards the perverted old man, clumsily punching him through his surprise. Gokudera also made sure to get a few kicks in, effectively knocking the old man out as his birds flew off to who-knows-where. He could tell his friends were relieved as much as he was as he turned to face them. It was then that a certain fact bothered him.

"Hey, Reborn?" The baby hitman turned to him with his unreadable face. "You don't think that Birds sent anyone else to my home, right? Mom and Nakuka are there alone."

"Don't worry. I sent one of my surveillance insects to keep watch over the house and to notify me if anything happens." Tsuna shrieked as a large amount of butterflies crawled over the baby's face, his momentary relief: gone. Sure, butterflies were pretty from far away, but they were pretty scary looking up close. He still refuses to touch one after that incident in the fifth grade.

Though, his butterfly trauma was easily forgotten once he heard a voice. The same voice that had been missing for a while now.

"Fuuta..."

~Transition_\('-')/_Transition~

_**Thunk**_

_**Thunk**_

_**Thunk**_

**_Clank_**

"Aw man, how long have I been in here." I whined half-heartedly as I flung bits of concrete against the wall. It felt rather satisfying when some of the pieces crumbled by the force of my throws. "I guess I at least have sunlight." I huffed as I took up another concrete pebble and flung it through the bars on the door's window, aiming for it to fly through the gabs from where I sat. I kept missing, narrowly sending the pieces through before they turned midair and turned in a way so that they bounced harmlessly off the bars.

"Herbivore, stop that incessant noise this instant." My ears perked up at the voice as I walked up to the door, trying to get a better look into the hallway as I stood on the tips of my toes.

"Someone else is here? Who are you?"

"Hn." The voice sounded tired; I tried to get a better of the person as I gripped the bars and tried to hold myself up long enough to catch a view through the other door's window, the same door that the voice came from. I quickly gave up when the height of the window started to annoy me and when I realized I couldn't spot the voice's host. "I'm Hibari Kyoya, head of the disciplinary committee."

"Oh, so you're the guy that Tanpopo was talking about." I settled myself back into my original position, trying to scrounge up any level of comfort I could at this point. "She did mention how you've been gone for a while."

"Are you a student of Nanimori Middle?" I blinked at the seemingly random question, but obliged the teen.

"Yeah, I am."

"I see." There was a pause and I waited for the boy to speak again, but I soon came to the conclusion that he wasn't going to continue speaking, probably more content with the silence of his jail cell than with our short conversation. And so we sat there in complete silence, neither feeling the need to talk to each other.

'This is awkward.' I sighed as I stared at the dust motes floating through the rays of sunlight. 'It kinda feels like he's angry over there.'

"Uh, so... how did you get locked up here?" My mouth twitched when my instincts told me I brought up something I shouldn't have brought up. "I was walking home and all of a sudden, I was here..." There was silence as I awkwardly tossed a rock into the air. The conversation felt extremely one-sided; normally, I'd be fine with that, but I just wanted to figure out what's going and get this shit over with. "Hey, you there?"

"Be quiet, herbivore." The boy's fairly deep voice growled. Though, I only felt offended and angry at his tone.

"You listen here-"

"Oya Oya, that wasn't very nice little skylark." I was cut off in my yell when my door opened, revealing a slightly older teen with blue hair in a spiky ponytail.

"Who are you?" I narrowed my eyes, looking up at the figure through the dim light.

"Hm? Isn't it more polite to introduce yourself first?" His calm smiled vaguely pissed me off as I glared at him, not willing to share my name with the bastard. "Oya, it seems the Vongola's sister is quite obstinate. Kufu~ I'm Rokudo Mukuro, nice to meet you, Sawada Nakuka."

"Herbivore, fight me." I heard Hibari speak up again.

"You won't be able to beat me with how weak you are now. I already beat you anyway, Mr. skylark." I huffed at his arrogant tone; not caring if this guy was dangerous or not, I spoke up.

"Were you the one who brought me here?"

"You sure a smart one."

"Why?" He fully turned towards me and stepped closer, making a small halo of light around his head as he blocked the only light source in the room.

"Oya, I have been meeting quite a lot of impatient and bad tempered people."

"Cut the crap and just answer the question." He laughed a little in his unusual way before he continued.

"I need control over your brother in order to obtain my goal."

"Tsunayoshi?" I raised an eyebrow. "Why him?"

"As I thought, you have no idea about what's going on in your own house. Kufufu~ How sad." I narrowed my eyes, silently demanding him to explain himself. "Haven't you noticed how secretive Vongola and his friends have been around you, and how Reborn's innocent facade comes down when you aren't around?"

"Hn." I agreed with what he said. I did notice how strange everything has been, I just never brought it up as I felt it wasn't any of my business. I stayed silent for a few seconds, contemplating my next question before I spoke up. "So, what's your goal? I watched as his smile become wider, almost tense, as his countenance seem to darken.

"Oya? It seems the Vongola has arrived. Sorry, little flower, but you will have to go to sleep now." I didn't need my instincts to tell me that he was going to do something, but I was cut off guard as the room began to swirl and finally turn to black in a matter of seconds. As my senses shut down, the last thing I heard was the irritatingly ominous laugh of Rokudo.

~Transition_\('-')/_Transition~

Tsuna was put on edge once he entered Kokuyo Land's decrepit theater. The fond memories he had here was forgotten as he worried about the badly beaten Yamamoto and Gokudera he had to leave behind.

"Tsuna, focus." He shook the thoughts away at the squeak of Reborn's voice, knowing there was a good reason for it.

"Fuuta, you're okay!" He felt relieved when he spotted the child, leaning against the wall with blank look on his face. Something inside him told him something was wrong, but his elation for finding the child overpowered his intuition as he moved closer with Bianchi.

"Fuuta? What's wro-" He tensed as they all stared in shock at the sandy blond child as he stuck a blade into Bianchi's stomach.

"Ugh-" Tsuna let out a distraught cry as Bianchi spat out blood, her eye squeezed shut in silent pain. And that's when he realization hit him, making his stomach turn in dread. Rokudo Mukuro let out an amused laugh as he seemed to catch on to his distress.

"Tsuna, do something. If you don't, then you will die."

"How? Fuuta's my opponent!" And he refused to hurt the child that was so well behaved and helpful back home. No, he wouldn't hurt a child. That's when he took one look at Mukuro and decided that he was his best bet as he ran towards him, shrieking at the possessed Fuuta to not follow him. "I have no choice!" He took out the length of cord he picked up off the crowd, trying to use it as a whip only for it to smack him in the eyes. He let out a cry as he fell down, causing Mukuro to laugh.

"You are full of surprises, Vongola. You should be careful, there are more dangerous things behind you." And Tsuna turned his head, surprised when he found that the chord tangled Fuuta up as well. The child struggled and his hand soon found the trident shaped knife, raising it above him to stab Tsuna. He felt initial panic, until he remembered Lanchia and the guilt he laid to him about the deeds he had done when he was possessed. He felt pity as he stared up at the child.

"It's not your fault." Fuuta's hand stilled before he started to grip his head, encouraging to Tsuna to convince the boy that he's not at fault. "We're on your side, Fuuta. You don't have to worry about anything, just come home with us." Fuuta let out a small wail as tears dripped from his eyes, his eyes seemingly cleared up as he whimpered.

"Tsuna-nii..." Then he collapsed, blood dripping from his nose in a light stream.

"Fuuta?! Oi!"

"It looks like you went too far. He's suffering from a clash of wills." He lamented mockingly. He maintained his smile as he talked about the suffering of the child under his possession, saying how he hadn't slept in ten days and how he tried to protect Tsuna. "He even closed off his heart and lost his ranking abilities." Mukuro felt slightly victorious as the Vongola looked panicked, thought it was a empty feeling as he stared at the collapsed child. Yet another child had suffered under the mafia, only more reason to destroy it and the world. He closed his eyes briefly as another child took his place, one with blue hair spiked into a pineapple fashion.

He shook himself of his own memories as he smiled again. He didn't hold anything back as he explained his plans. "Our plan was a huge success. The Vongola is standing in front of me, after all." And even then, his planning was to a tee as the Vongola reacted just how he predicted he would.

"Rokudo Mukuro, what are people to you?!" He closed his eyes and opened them with sinister smile, his memories of the mafia flashing behind his eyes.

"Toys, I suppose."

~Transition_\('-')/_Transition~

I looked around, confusion flooded my system as I stared at the ceiling. At least, it would have been a ceiling if I wasn't floating in a large body of water.

"Enjoying yourself?" I eyes widened in surprise as I shifted myself and saw Mukuro, floating along side me. "Interesting mind scape you have here." He looked around at the rather barren landscape, noting the dim sunlight that shined from above with circular rings spread out on the surface as rain fell. I too stared at the rain through the surface of the water, glancing at the bottom-less darkness underneath us. I wearily brought my feet closer to me, not wanting to be close to the darkness in anticipation of what might be there. I decided to ignore it as I brought my attention to the blue haired male, noting his heterochromatic eyes for the first time.

"Where are we?"

"As I said: in your mind. Your's is quite melancholy." I raised an eyebrow, strangely feeling at ease as my hair floated around me.

"Is it? I think it's peaceful." I closed my eyes for a few seconds, letting the muffled sound of rain and thunder comfort me before I opened them again. "You never did tell me what your goal is."

"Hm, you're still interested in that?"

"It was the reason why you kidnapped me, but I could really care less." There was a brief silence as Rokudo seemed to contemplate something.

"My plan is to destroy everything and make it new. I'll clean the world with darkness."

"Alright."

"You're not opposed to my plan?" I brushed my hair back as the water resisted my movements, making my hair float back slowly.

"I could really care less what happens in the world. It could burn for all I care."

"Even if you're family was to be destroyed in order for me to obtain my goals?" I hesitated, letting myself float as I stayed silent.

"I don't have many attachments to this world. What's the use of fighting against something I have no control over?" I reached up and plucked a single red flower, drowning it in water as I observed it.

'Huh, a spider lilly.' I opened my hand as it suddenly dissolved in a red wisp, leaving a trail of murky red before it diffused into the blue waters around us.

"Kufufu~ How interesting." I turned my eyes to the boy, locking my eyes with him as something unreadable flashed in his eyes. His smile suddenly turned into a frown as he winced; Rokudo seem to ignore my questioning gaze as wiped his expressions clean once more. "It seems that I have to bring my full attention to the Vongola, he seems to have gotten serious. I'll leave you one last warning since we seem to be akin in some aspects, don't trust the Vongola."

The world seem to darken and I was suddenly awake, the water world was gone and the dusty cell took its place. I sat up, still feeling like I was swimming in water as I silently looked around. The room seemed to have gotten more chaotic as the walls appeared more chipped and debris littered the floor. The door still stood, but I spotted a hole in the wall. So, naturally, I got on my hands and knees and shimmied through the small opening.

I sighed and got up, swiping my hands against myself to clear any dirt that I may have gained on my apparel. I looked around and headed up the stairs, careful to not trip over any potholes in the concrete stairs. Voices met my ears as I came to the final steps.

~Transition_\('-')/_Transition~

Tsuna and Mukuro stopped their fighting when Leon started to float. The green chameleon emitted a light and something plopped into Tsuna's hands. Though, another object seemed to fall, unknown to everyone else in the room.

"Woolen gloves?!" Tsuna shrieked, he had no idea what to do with these! Nonetheless, he slipped them on as a possessed Ken attacked him, stabbing at him with the detached trident head. Instead of the blade going through the gloves, much to everyone's surprise, it was reflected. In confusion, Tsuna removed the object that saved his hand from some major pain.

"A bullet?"

"So that's it, Tsuna, pass it here!" He wasted no time to pass the bullet onto his mentor, knowing that the baby had something planned.

"I won't let you!" Bianchi got in the way, Mukuro's eyes flashing in surprise as the bullet he grabbed with Bianchi's hand turned into Leon.

"I just need to shoot you with this special bullet, though I've never seen this type of bullet before."

"W-Wait, you don't know what it does?!" He didn't have much time to question it as the possessed Gokudera sent out a barrage of explosives just as Reborn's gun shot the bullet into Tsuna.

Once the smoked cleared, Mukuro was satisfied with the sight of Tsuna sprawled out on the floor. He wanted to savor this moment as the Vongola's future boss seemed to be defeated. It was true, though, Tsuna had accepted defeat in that very moment, but he wasn't counting on the images of people he knew flitting into his mind.

"Eh?" He moaned as he heard his mother complain that he didn't clean his room along with Kurokawa finding his japanese test. 'Rebukes?' He seemed to blanche as he heard Haru say there was no spirit in going into the enemy's base head on, but a sniffle told him that she was really worried about him.

_"I'm going to be a mafia wife! *sniff* Please, don't give up, Tsuna-san!" _'Haru'

_"Calm down, Kyoko." 'Nii-san?'_

_"But Doctor Shamal said that Tsuna and the others had set off..." _'Even Kyoko-chan?'

_"Don't worry. I've fought with him before. I know he's strong. If he comes home defeated, then I won't forgive him."_

_"That's true. Tsuna-san, come back safe and sound."_

_"Don't repeat the same mistakes I did, kid!" _Tsuna grit his teeth as he heard Lanchia's voice. _"With your own hand, protect your friends! Protect your family!"_

Emotions overcame the boy and for a second, he swore he heard another voice. "_You have some explaining to do..."_

He forgot about the voice as he grabbed onto the trident tip with his gloved hands, ignoring it as his gloves transformed.

"Mukuro, if I don't defeat you, even if I'm dying, I won't give up!" And that was all it took to seal Mukuro's fate.

~Transition_\('-')/_Transition~

When I finally opened the door, I was greeted by the sight of Tsunayoshi's friends being loaded up onto hospital gurneys. They were attended by what looked like hospital staff, though I ignored that as I located Tsunayoshi, a battered and bloody one at that.

"Tsunayoshi..."

"Agh! Nakuka, why are you here?!" I blinked, the gravity of the situation still hasn't really settled with me. I shook my head as I never did learn how I got here, I had an idea of why, though.

"I was brought here by someone." My eyes trailed around as I spotted Fuuta. Huh, haven't seen him in a while.

"Are you okay?" I was vaguely surprised with his concern, I stared at his face for a second as his eyebrows furrowed. "Nakuka... do you have something to tell me?"

I blinked. "No... I don't." I didn't react when he suddenly seized up in pain, falling to the ground as Reborn explained why he was in pain. My mind was somewhere else, though, as I stared at my second life's brother. My body automatically followed the boy as he was also wheeled off on a gurney. I stopped for a second, spotting something obstructing my path and knelt down to inspect it.

The twitching face of a dwarf hamster looked up at me, it's white fur oddly marred by a stripe of bright orange that ran down the middle of its back. Its beady black eyes stared up at me as if to say that it did not fear me. My hand fell to the ground, instantly, the creature scurried onto my open palm. I looked down at it as the hamster sat on its hind legs, we stared into each other's eyes before I broke it off and climbed into the medical van that Tsunayoshi was crammed in to.

My eyes were still trained on the hamster once the vehicle started to move, my finger ran down the soft orange on its fur.

'Tsunayoshi... Just what are you hiding?'

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

**Hey, readers! I hope you all liked the chapter and weren't too disappointed that I skipped over Dino and Fuuta's introduction. I just wanted to skip over to the exciting parts, ya know? So... forgive me?**

**Any who~ Reviews are always awesome. So, make sure to leave some for me! Even saying you liked the chapter makes me happy and makes me write more for the story! Unfortunately, I'm an impatient person and I could make this fanfic a lot better if I just put more time in making it longer and don't skip over parts. But whatevs...**

**Thanks to everyone who reads this story and see you guys next time.**


	8. I was wrong

**Author's notes:**

**Hello everyone! I finally have a bit of time to write another chapter! I decided to do what the other fanfics are doing and put a little bit of reviewer stuff here. Ya know? Like when I reach a mile marker in my story; yeah, I'm not describing it very well. Anyway, here we go.**

**Congratulations to RoYaLAnemone11 for being my 50th follower!**

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**It means a lot to me that you guys actually followed this rag-tag story.**

**And Thanks to Teafully for being the person that gave me motivation to keep on going with this story! Now, on with the show!**

* * *

><p>The days seem to blend into weeks and the weeks seem to blend into months. Everything seemed to swirl around me at this point, I merely go about my day in a habitual haze. Ever since I met that Rokudo kid, a few things have been on my mind. Suddenly, everything seemed to have an ulterior motive. I found myself watching Tsunayoshi these days, noticing the little slip ups in his act when I walk in unannounced, how everyone seemed to go silent or stiff when my mother or I appear in the room. It... it upsets me, I don't like things being hidden from me.<p>

Throughout the past month or two, I have been contemplating, debating on whether or not I should ask Tsunayoshi what Vongola was exactly. I noticed how he stuttered when I asked why everyone was so beat up that day in the Kokuyo Land, but I dropped it once I saw his reaction. In the end, I settled to just watch him more closely. I'm not as naive to think that nothing is going on, but the answers will be revealed one way or another.

"Hamu~" My eyes shifted to my side as I was broken out of my thoughts, spotting the white and orange hamster that I unceremoniously adopted.

"What is it? Do you want to eat?" The tiny hamster did a little wiggle, confirming my thoughts. It ran onto my cupped hand, excited for whatever meal that mom had made for us today.

"Huh, I guess you have a better sense of smell than I do." I noted as the scent of food wafted to me. I steadily made my way downstairs, careful not to drop the hamster as I finally came to the kitchen. My eyebrow raised when I saw the amount of food on the kitchen table. There wasn't an inch of wood showing on the surface!

"Uh, mom? Mom!" The woman stiffened in surprise before she turned to me with a happy smile.

"Oh, Na-chan! You finally came downstairs!" I caught the woman's hand and gently pried the knife from it, fearing she'd accidentally cut someone with the way she was waving it around.

"What's with all the food?" I snatched a string of noodle and dropped it into my mouth, picking another one up to let the hamster nibble on it.

"Hm? Oh, that's because Papa is going home after two years." I blinked, almost forgetting that I still had a father.

"Really? When is he coming back?" I then took in the massive amount of food and corrected myself. "Is he coming today?"

She nodded excitedly before she took up the knife again. "Yes, he'll be here soon! Oh, would you and Hamu like something?"

"We'll just eat whatever you already made." I said as I rummaged through the cupboard, taking out the small plate that we used for the hamster that my mother dubbed Hamu. And so I loaded up the foods that Hamu seemed to want, setting the small plate next to mine as I also dug in. I thought that hamsters weren't suppose to eat foods like spicy noodles, but Hamu seemed to a special hamster as he devoured everything.

"Hamu Hamu~" His squeaks caught my attention as I noticed him dragging a piece of ham across the table. I raised an eyebrow and lifted the piece to his plate, watching him run to it in expectation. I let out an amused huff as the little rodent started to stuff its cheeks full of its favorite food. It didn't take that long for me to get used to the creature's presence and mom was never one to turn away anything in need, so Hamu easily became a part of the growing Sawada family.

"Mom, is it dinnertime yet?" Hamu's ears perked up as he stood on his hind legs, holding a piece of ham in his tiny paws. My dark eyes swiveled from the hamster to the kitchen's doorway, watching as Tsunayoshi, Bianchi, and Futa came into the doorway. He noted the elaborate dishes on the kitchen's table before he shouted in disbelief. "She's still cooking more!"

I acknowledged Reborn as he took a seat at the end of the table, biting into a piece of tempura shrimp. Tsunayoshi soon took to trying to get our mother's attention with the same result as my attempt. Futa and Bianchi looked on in curiosity, wondering what got the woman into her cooking frenzy.

"What's going on, Tsuna?"

"Did you get a 100 on your test, Tsuna-nii?"

"No, it was a normal no-good day today."

"She's just happy that dad's coming home." I answered for the woman as I dipped a dumpling into soy sauce, maneuvering the piece into my mouth with my chopsticks.

"Wah! Dad's coming home?!"

"That's what I said, didn't I?" This seemed to catch our mother's attention as she turned around.

"That's right! Papa's coming home for the first time in two years." She seemed to shine as she said this, I merely raised and eyebrow before I brought my attention back to my chopsticks, catching Hamu tug on the piece of ham right before it slipped out of my grasp. I didn't bother stopping him as he dragged it away, choosing to simply pick something else to eat.

"He's finally been found?!" I eyebrows scrunched in confusion as I turned in my seat, staring at the older boy. Mom seemed to be confused as well as she put a hand to her chest.

"Found? What are you talking about?"

"Yeah, didn't he say tell you he was leaving to do his job?"

"He didn't disappear?"

"My goodness, Tsuna! Who do you think gets all the funding for your school and food?" She adopted a dreamy look as she started to sway happily. "That's right, I've been keeping contact with him as he dug for oil in foreign countries. He's a man of dirt!"

"Dirt..." Futa blinked innocently. I'd say we were on the same page, I had no idea why she was so happy.

"I can see why Tsuna's so confused. Maman doesn't talk about Papan much, I thought it was taboo." Futa nodded as he tugged on his scarf.

"I thought he was already dead."

'Ah, that might not be something you should say, kid.' I dead panned at the statement before I shook my head.

"Did you really think that we'd be so relaxed if we knew that he went missing?" I questioned the boy as he became more and more bewildered.

"But mom, you said he disappeared!" She suddenly stopped, pulling a face that told me that she was thinking. She soon told us that dad simply told her to tell Tsuna that he became a star in the sky since it was romantic and shit like that.

"He said that?" I asked in disbelief. I had no idea, I assumed he said his farewells to Tsunayoshi before he left.

"Papan is a funny person." Bianchi commented as Tsunayoshi practically had a meltdown.

"And when will he be back?" Mom handed Tsuna a post card, the same one that I saw on the counter from when I first came downstairs. He stared at the penguins and glaciers on the card. "Oil comes from a place like this?!"

I didn't comment as I put my empty plate away, gathering up Hamu and setting him on my shoulder before wordlessly going back to my room. Once I shut the door, Hamu jumped onto my bed before he scurried onto my night table and climbed his way onto the floor before he jumped into his wheel and started to spin it.

I let the hamster do his exercise as I flopped onto my bed, thinking about how it has been a while since I've heard from the man that I call my father. I blinked when I heard a thud, glancing over at the still spinning wheel and its lack of hamster. A small smile made its way onto my face as that hamster shook the fall off and climbed through the tubes that lead up to my dresser. He then settled into his own bed, burrowing into the small enclosure as he gave a yawn. I petted him with a small smile before reaching over and turning off the light.

"Goodnight, Hamu."

"Hamu~"

~Transition_\('-')/_Transition~

The next day, I was rudely woken up once again. Though, it wasn't the normal commotion that bothered me this time. Instead, the puffy body of a hamster practically suffocated me as I woke with a start.

"Hamu." I glared in annoyance as the hamster stared up at me. We stared each other down before I sighed and opened my door. "I swear, why can't you act like a normal hamster and go to the bathroom in a cage." I scooped up the animal once we got to the stairs and then opened the door to my backyard, watching as it scampered into the grass and disappeared.

"Nakuka? What are you doing outside?" I turned at the voice and spotted my mother.

"Hamu wanted to go outside." I jerked a thumb towards where the hamster disappeared. My mother nodded in understanding.

"Say, Na-chan, how about you go hang out with your brother and his friends. I heard they were going to the shopping district today."

"I'll pass." I frowned as I glanced to the side, hoping Hamu would show up.

"Why not? You need to be around kids around your age, Nakuka. There's no need to be shy."

"I'm not being shy." I huffed in annoyance. "I'm not even invited to go. It would be awkward if I just invited myself like that."

"I could just ask Tsu-kun if he would take you along." I grimaced.

"No, I'm not going."

"Ah, but Tsu-kun already said you could."

"I said I'm not going." I narrowed my eyes at the woman, not liking how pushy she was. "I'm perfectly fine with being alone, I don't want to be around them."

"Please?" Her face took on a pleading look, slight worry shining in it. "I feel like something is going to happen. I would feel better if you two had each other to rely on."

I stayed silent, not giving anything away as I stared at this woman's face. It was strange, I never saw this side of her. It suddenly occurred to me, Sawada Nana may be naive and optimistic, but she was not oblivious.

"Fine." Relief washed over her young-looking face as she thanked me. I half-heartedly noted Hamu running into the house as we all went back in. "Do you want me to get a cake for when dad comes home?"

"Would you?" She seemed to sparkled as she gave me a hug, making me stiffen uncomfortably.

"Yeah, I can pick one up when I go out later."

"Thank you, Na-chan." I blinked, stilling for a moment before I hugged the woman, making her light up with joy. What can I say? I had to give this one to the woman. She did put up with my shitty attitude all these years, after all.

"Yeah..." I spotted Hamu on the table, standing on his hind legs as he swayed his body. I immediately narrowed my eyes.

'Don't you mock me, you little shit.'

"Um..." I separated myself from the brown haired woman, instead focusing my attention on the unsure Tsunayoshi that stood in the doorway. "I... um..."

"Is it time to go?" He blinked in surprise before he nodded wordlessly. I didn't waste any time to get out of the room, slightly unhappy that Tsunayoshi caught such an out of character moment for me. So, I went to the front door and slipped on my shoes as Tsunayoshi did as well before we both exited our home to see a rather large group of people waiting. I awkwardly followed along as Tsunayoshi was greeted with warm hellos.

We all started to walk to the shopping district as I couldn't help but think that I slightly regretted tagging along.

'This is awkward as fuck.' My eyes caught on to that one chick that my brother obviously likes, making me look away. I could feel the separation between me and the group, I could tell that I didn't belong. And for the first time, it felt kind of lonely.

"That's a cute hamster."

"Huh? Uh, yeah." I honestly almost forgot that the orange and white hamster was on my shoulder.

"What's his name?"

"Well, I guess he goes by Hamu." I glanced at the honey eyed girl before looking forward again. "Since he says that..."

"Oh really?"

"Hamu~"

"Oh, he's super cute!" The girl laughed happily as the hamster twitched its nose at her.

"Haru agrees!" I blinked as a ponytailed girl popped into my view. "Hello, you must be Nakuka-san! Haru's name is Miura Haru! Nice to meet you, future mafia sister-in-law!" I blinked in surprise before I sent Tsunayoshi an incriminating look. There's one thing with the sister-in-law stuff, but what's with the mafia?

"T-That's not it!" I let him flounder, knowing there was really no way of explaining himself without hurting Haru's feelings. He kept glancing between Haru, Kyoko, and I as he did so. It didn't take long for his lapdog to jump in, yapping at the ponytailed girl who was still clasping my hand.

"Don't embarrass the Tenth, woman!"

"Maa Maa~ Calm down, Gokudera. You're scaring the shoppers." My eyes looked over at the taller teen before I looked away, feeling slightly uncomfortable when I remembered what I said all those months ago. I'm sure as hell that he didn't forget either.

"I want to go to the arcade!" Futa happily tugged on Yamamoto's sleeve.

"Haha~ You want a match?" Ever so competitive, Gokudera had to add in his two cents.

"I'll definitely beat you!"

"Huh, Lambo-kun is missing." Kyoko noted as the group suddenly started to disperse into different stores, but stayed in the general vicinity. I stood their awkwardly, wondering where to go before I headed into the arcade. Soft music hit my ears as I entered and got some arcade tokens. I spotted Reborn on a shooting game, mystifying those who watched him. Even I had to say that he was pretty good at it. So, I joined him, I enjoyed those kind of games anyway.

"Ready? Start!" I picked up the plastic gun and started to shoot at the targets, making all the terrorists fall. "Amazing! Don't hit the hostage!"

"You have some shooting potential." I blinked, but kept my gaze on the screen.

"Hah, I can hardly call my skills at a video game that." I shot at the random flurry of mechanical bugs that swarmed into the room. "It's not like this gun is heavy or has recoil."

"Hm." Reborn agreed. "Tell me, what do you think of Tsuna?"

I blinked and raised a questioning eyebrow at the screen. "Why does that matter?"

"Just simple curiosity." I stayed silent until I forgot to duck in the game and died. The screen flashed, asking me to insert more tokens to continue with a timer counting down. I ignored it as I stowed the gun into the compartment.

"I don't. I guess I didn't really like him much."

"You guess?" I turned to the small person, staring into his never ending eyes. It almost felt like he was trying to dig into my thoughts, but I couldn't seem to care at the moment as I shrugged. I'm too old for this shit.

"Yeah."

"I see."

"Hey, I haven't seen you in a while, Nakuka." I turned and saw the one person I had no urge to talk with. The (physically) older boy gave me a smile as he jerked a thumb over his shoulder.

"Want to play that with me?"

"Uh, sure." I followed Yamamoto as I glanced around, spotting that Gokudera kid losing to Futa on an arcade machine. I didn't bother watching him blow up as I sat down on the plastic race car seat; I gripped the wheel after I inserted the tokens, watching as he did the same. We sat in silence as we revved up our virtual race cars; soon enough, he was beating me in the race, placing me in second.

"Hey, you're pretty good at this."

"Mn..."

"You know, you were right." I blinked, glancing over at him before returning my gaze to the game. "I shouldn't have given up like that."

I stilled, not bothering to control the race car anymore as it crashed in an explosion.

"You and Tsuna showed me that I have to keep going and try my hardest. Man, you two are really amazing, it must run in the family."

"I guess." I said quietly. An uncomfortable feeling filled my stomach and nothing could make it go away. I recognized this feeling, I've only felt it once before, but I recognized it.

'Stop feeling so guilty; you were right, he shouldn't have given up.' I let out a heavy, silent breath. 'I really am a horrible person.'

I felt the inclination to tell him that I was wrong. It hung on the back of my throat, on the edge of exiting through my mouth and receding make into my stomach where the thought would die for the moment.

"I-"

"Hey, baseball freak! Let's get going, Juudaime wants to meet up at a cafe."

"I'll be right there!" The boy flashed me a bright grin. "Come one, we should catch up with them."

I watched as he jogged away, leaving me staring after him. I blinked slowly, hands still on the wheel as my eyes shifted to where he was sitting just a few seconds ago.

"Don't be stupid. I could never help someone like you."

"Hamu~" A soft nudge against my cheek reminded me of the rodent that sat on my shoulder.

"Right, I should get going." And so I exited the cafe, carelessly dropping the rest of my tokens in my bag. I stopped for a moment once I got outside, seeing Tsunayoshi's group walking ahead of me. My fingers curled a little as I watched them, a familiar feeling of solitude settled in.

'Even in this new life, nothing seemed to change.'

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

**Well, this was going to be longer, but I didn't feel like writing the moment where Basil and Squalo come in, so that'll happen next chapter.**

**Also, I was thinking that I might change the title of the story. I have no idea what I wanna change it to, so I guess if you guys have any suggestions, then I'm up for it.**

**Also, those reviews make me really happy. So, keep them coming! I love hearing your thoughts and comments.**

**Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to update soon.**

**See you guys soon~**


	9. I'm not dumb

**Congratulations to N3ss13 for being my 150th follower!**

**Congratulations to "Guest" for being my 30th reviewer! But serious, brah, you need an account!**

**By the way, I think I'll be answering reviews at the end of chapters instead of through PMs now. It just seems more convenient.**

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><p>I stayed away from most of the group. I couldn't stand being around their suffocating happiness. Instead, I went inside a store to escape them, picking up the cake I promised to buy for Nana. The sudden shattering of glass and the screams of the shoppers broke the calm air as I shielded myself from the flying shards. The cashier immediately fled, leaving me alone in the store. Despite the situation, I took it upon myself to grab a small serving of strawberry shortcake, no sense in saying no to free food. Once I was done with my minor theft- though technically not since they most likely would have thrown it out due to the risk of glass shards being stuck in the cakes- I headed outside, wondering what the commotion was about. My eyes soon spotted a silver haired man with a katana. The scene was chaotic as bystanders ran in a frenzy. I spotted Tsunayoshi and his friends a bit away. Despite better judgement, I didn't leave the scene as the other girls and kids in our group did.<p>

Some boy that I didn't recognize stood by Tsunayoshi, helping him up as the man with ridiculously shiny hair (seriously, looks like he's from a shampoo commercial) jumped in front of him.

"Huh, who are these kids?" The menacing smirk on his face never disappeared as the new boy suddenly had an expression that said he messed up. My stepped behind a fallen table as I watched the silver haired man suddenly fly towards the boy with his sword. The boy with the blue flame, suspiciously like the one Tsunayoshi sometimes gets on his forehead, flew back into a building as blood flew into the air. I didn't flinch away as I watched the man flick blood away from his blade, having effectively opened a decent sized wound on the young teen.

"Y-You-" Tsunayoshi stuttered as he stared at the boy's unmoving figure. He whipped around with terrified eyes as both our eyes were brought to the silver haired man.

"Yeah, you... You, what's your real relation with this kid? If you don't spit it out, I"ll slice you." Obviously, I would have just stuck to hiding behind the table, but a certain promise with a brown haired woman echoed in my head.

"What's it to you?" I almost felt something in me cringe as the man turned a murderous eye to me.

"Hah? Another kid?" There were suddenly a volley of what looked like firecrackers in the air, making the man jump back from the explosion that took place. I took my chance to side myself with Tsunayoshi, knowing that I wouldn't provide much protection.

"Nakuka?" Tsunayoshi said to himself more than to me. I didn't respond as I watched his friends step out behind the man.

"Lay a hand on that person, and I won't let you go free."

"Yeah, something like that. I'll be your opponent." I eyed the weapons in their hands, but looked at the man as he was top priority at the moment.

"Gokudera-kun! Yamamoto!"

"You guys are also related in some way, eh? I don't get it, but I'll tell you something I know for sure." He stood up and gave them a smirk. "If you go against me, you'll die."

"Right back at you."

"That's a sword he has, right? I'll go." I frowned at their cockiness. What can two Nanimori students do against a sword-wielding psychopath? He was able to slice open concrete for fuck's sake. I glanced to the side as the other boy from earlier crawled out the whole, definitely seeing better days.

"Please don't! he isn't a man thou can win against!"

"It's too late to regret!"

"Let's go!" I could only watch as the boy that I have been talking to not even ten minutes ago clashed swords with the man. It didn't take long for the teen to go down, sadly enough. The other boy growled as he pulled out what I thought to be firecrackers earlier, but the tops of them were sliced off as he got the stuffings beat out of him.

I stared impassively at them, there earlier cockiness making the scene extremely difficult to look at.

"Heeeey~ These guys aren't even worth talking about. Just die." Even if I didn't care for the boys, I had to say that I was glad for the unknown boy's timing as he protected the smoking brat from the man.

"You should go find cover." I blinked as looked at the baby that stood behind me, I angled myself towards him while I made sure to keep the man in my peripheral vision. I didn't know how long the boy was going to last, after all. It turns out it wasn't long as he was quickly dealt with. I blankly watched Reborn toss Tsunayoshi some mittens as they soon transformed into a pair of sturdy gloves with metal cuffs. A flame burst on his forehead and he grabbed the man's wrist before he could kill the other boy. My teeth clenched as I suddenly realized how in the dark I was.

"Explain. What's going on?" I sent a heated look towards Reborn as he shed his plant costume. He stared at me, but I refused to look away as I glared into the seemingly bottomless pools of his eyes.

"I will tell you later." I accepted the answer, knowing that I now isn't the time to be hounding for information. I turned back to battle, catching the kid's name- it was Basil- as he handed Tsunayoshi a case full of rings. He spouted on about not handing them over to the other man, but I was more distracted by another man as he held a whip taunt in his hands.

"You're just like yourself, Superbi Squalo. Isn't it embarrassing being so rough on kids?" I didn't even bother questioning who the blond was.

"Di-Dino-san!"

'Well, that answered my question.'

"Voi, Bucking Horse. I have no problem with killing you right here, but if I fight people from allied families, the higher-ups will be nagging me. For today, I'll quietly-" He seemed to give up, but that was not the case as he suddenly lifted Tsunayoshi off the ground by his hair. "-not go home!"

"Let go of that head!" I shielded my eyes as Squalo threw something down, the thing proved to be smoke bombs as this Dino guy rushed to Tsunayoshi and Basil to ask if they were all right.

"For your sake, I'll leave their lives in your hands, but I'll take this. Voi!" He held the small case his in his hand, somehow looking down at us from the top of a building.

"The Vongola rings!" I blinked and stared at Basil, narrowing my eyes as I remembered what Vongola said.

_"Don't trust the Vongola."_

"See ya."

"W-Wait!" Basil collapsed as he tried to follow, instantly being reprimanded by Dino.

"Hey, don't move around too much." I stood a distance from the group, taking note of who seemed to be affiliated with this _Vongola_. It didn't take long for me to find out that Squalo was a part of it and that Dino was allied with them. It seemed to me that Basil was also a member (if not allied with them) as he was protecting the rings, and my brother and his friends were most likely a part of this shady business.

Suddenly, Rokudo's mocking voice floated in my head from a memory not long ago. _"You have no idea about what's going on in your own house."_

My eyes narrowed as I heard a random man in a suit informed us that the police were coming. I didn't bother with Tsunayoshi's friends ran up, seeming to recover from being knocked out. Reborn was merciless as he told them to go home.

"They probably sensed it already. After being defeated in such a one-sided match, there's no way they're not pissed off. Leave them alone for now." My eyes trailed Reborn's figure before I glanced at the boy's behind me. A small squeak reminded me about my current mission and I nodded at the hamster that appeared out of nowhere.

"Right."

~Transition_\('-')/_Transition~

I waited patiently outside of Basil's room, not wanting to enter the room just yet as I listened on to the conversation between Reborn, Dino, and Tsunayoshi.

"It's unknown how much blood were shed for these rings." I stared at the floor, watching as Hamu ran around in circles. Though, I didn't let his antics distract me from the information gathering.

"EHHHH! You actually have the rings?!"

"Well, that's because you're Vongola's-"

"S-Stop! I have to go home and study for my prep classes! I'd better work hard!" I looked to the side as Tsunayoshi rushed out of the room, completely missing me and almost squishing Hamu as he ran home.

"Hamu!" The hamster let out in indignant squeak as he dodged the boy's shoe. He quickly ran up my leg and sat on my shoulder to avoid a premature death.

"D-Does he think he can get away...?" There was a silence before Reborn spoke.

"Basil was a decoy, wasn't he?"

"Yeah, He probably wasn't told about it. That person probably figured that this would happen. It must've been a tough decision. Though, he should've just given these directly to Tsuna. He came to Japan with me, you know?"

"I see, so he came. You can come in now." I blinked and stood there for a second, wondering if he was talking to me. I decided he was as I walked in with a stony face.

"Eeeh! How long have you been listening?!" I shot Dino a glance as he turned to the smaller male. "Reborn, it isn't good if civilians hear this stuff!"

"I know that." He kicked the man in the face, but I ignored the familiar treatment that Tsunayoshi receives in favor for the promise made earlier. A serious frown snaked onto my face as I stared at the baby, getting down to business as the hospital air seem to stiffen.

"What is the Vongola?"

~POV Reborn~

Reborn knew that the whole mafia business was going to be hard to keep under wraps. He couldn't necessarily use his usual methods of disposing loose ends in the peaceful town of Nanimori. There were bound to be a select few who would figure out that the mafia was living right under their noses.

He knew the signs were there as well. Tsuna's younger sister was not as trusting as their mother was, the same one who welcomed him with open arms, unaware of the danger his seemingly innocent face brought. He knew that the youngest Sawada was suspicious of him the moment he entered the house, preferring to stay away from him as much as she could and keeping a sharp eye on him when she was around.

The way her eyes stared them down, unabashed when she was caught by those who were subjected to them. No, she made it clear that she was suspicious of a person. In a way, Reborn was intrigued by the child, she knew how to trip people up with her words, an aspect that would do quite well in mafia business meetings. A shame, considering the fact that he was forbidden from bringing her into the mafia, unlike her older brother.

Getting back on topic, he knew that Sawada Nakuka would figure out that information was being hidden from her. Tsuna and his friends were not top notch actors after all. He noticed how her uncaring attitude seem to change once she came back from Kokuyo Land, her eyes took on a more calculating look and she didn't brush off their conversations anymore.

That aspect was too dangerous in a world where nosy people were snuffed out like a candle, so he had to satisfy her thirst for information just enough to keep her from interfering. Though, he knew that was difficult; there was no guarantee that she would be kept from the dark undersides of the mafia, it had a intriguing ability to drag in unwilling members.

Though, he his reasoning wasn't entirely to keep this girl from the mafia. No, he knew how much Tsuna respected his sister, despite their estrangement. He knew that the boy wanted her approval and that such a thing could be used to make Tsuna into a better mafia boss. That was why he made sure to leave hints that Tsuna was improving, evolving from that pathetic person he used to be. And it was working, though he would have to be careful with how he dealt with the girl, seeing as she was now privy to the mafia.

"Are you sure it was wise to tell her?" Reborn glanced at his first student as he shut the case to the Vongola rings.

"She would have found out eventually."

"And what about giving her the rings to deliver. Wasn't that dangerous?" He didn't miss the worried look that Dino sent him, so he dealt with it promptly. "Ow! Reborn!"

"Don't doubt me."

~POV Nakuka~

I was oddly at peace, maybe even in a daze, as I walked through the streets of Nanimori. I guess I should be more panicked or something, considering the fact that I just learned that Tsunayoshi was a part of the mafia group, the Vongola.

"The Vongola, huh." I knocked on the door of a run down apartment. I waited in silence, basking in the sunny day as if a bloody battle for a set of rings didn't just happen a hour or two ago.

"What do you- Jyuudaime's sister!" I watched as the silver haired teen instinctively snuffed out his cigarette. I suppose I would have been pleased by such an action; heck, I wasn't even bothered when he didn't call me by my name as I held out a ring with a red stone set in it.

"Here."

"Huh?" He gingerly took the ring in his bandaged hands.

"Vongola rings. Congratulations." Despite my bland tone, he looked vaguely alarmed. "Don't even bother."

I knew exactly what he was thinking and that made me angry. I narrowed my eyes at the boy. "I'm not stupid, I would have figured out that you guys were a part of the mafia. So, stop treating me like I am." I growled at the boy, turning to leave in a fit of repressed rage as I went to go track down the second- and last- ring holder.

It didn't take very long, though. By the time I reached Takesushi, my anger had subsided just a bit. I entered the shop and stood at the entrance, waiting for anybody to greet me.

"Hello, what would you like today." I blinked and stared at the woman in front of me. The woman held a gentle and sophisticated aura as she stood in front of me. The yukata she wore fit her very well as well as her done up hair. Her hazel eyes stared down at me, clearly reminding me of the boy I was meant to find.

"Nothing, I need to talk to Takeshi." If she was put off by my curt tone, she didn't show it. Instead, she bowed her head and silently lead me to the back.

"Take those stairs and go straight down the hall, Takeshi's room is the door right in front of it." I nodded my thanks to the woman. I quietly climbed up the stairs and knocked on the door with unnecessary force.

"Huh? Nakuka-chan?" I brushed passed him, rudely entering the room as Yamamoto closed the door, his eyes portraying his wariness. I let him squirm in the silence, taking a little bit of my disgruntlement out on him. I sighed silently and finally decided to spare him as I held up the ring.

"How long were you guys planning on hiding it from me?" The confusion in his eyes told me he wasn't sure of what I was talking about. "This Vongola shit. The mafia."

His light brown eyes cleared up in understanding and shock. I huffed through my nose and roughly sat the ring into his hand. I silently went to exit the room before I stopped and turned around, glaring at the stock-still boy.

"I'm not a fool, Yamamoto Takeshi. Don't act like I am." I sharply left the room after I gave the boy the same warning I gave Gokudera Hayato. I would have been fine if Tsunayoshi had just told me what was going on, but they went behind my back and involved me in this type of shit. And no matter of bullshit would keep me from thinking of this. I knew how the mafia worked, if your associated, then your easily a target as well.

"Shoujo-chan." I stopped and stared at the woman that I had met earlier, my bad mood calmed down a tad bit as curiosity got ahold of me. She smoothly strolled up to me, it was almost as if she was made of water and skated on ice. It was rather impressive, truth be told.

'What does she want?'

"You have much anger in you." I raised an eyebrow as I kept my flat stare on her. What tipped her off? The bitch face or my pissed off stance? "I would like you to meet me for tea some time."

"I guess." I was about to leave when the woman held out a slip of paper.

"I will hold you to your promise." I glanced at the paper as the woman's hands receded into her sleeves, quickly figuring out that this was her most likely her address. I nodded, not bothering to tell her that I never promised, and exited the shop. I continued down the street, unaware of those hazel eyes that watched me until I was out of sight.

In the end, I finally made it to my house. The entire day seemed to catch up with me as I noticed the multitude of male clothing hanging out to dry along with a hardhat and a pair of boots. I frowned when I entered the house to found a couple of drunk, stumbling kids.

'Great, what could aggravate me more?' And so I wandered to the the living room as I passed a pallid Tsunayoshi, finding exactly what I predicted there to be. I stared blankly at the snoring man, his crab boxers waving a claw cheerfully at me.

And so I did what was natural, I raised my leg and stomped.

"Gah! Nakuka!" And how satisfying it felt.

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><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

**Question: Do you guys like the new title? Indifferent? Or do you guys like the old one?**

**I don't know. I just felt like Red Spider Lilies was more relevant to the story (or at least will be), but I'm kinda attached to Frozen Skies and Lullabies just because of how long this story was named that. Please give me your thoughts~**

**Reviews:**

**Guest: If all goes according to plan, then I will have to say that the possibility is high. ;) And that is an interesting idea, looped out Nakuka would be amusing, wouldn't it?**

**Dustflame: I'm glad you found Hamu cute, I imagine him to just be the happy ball of fluff and sunshine to Nakuka's foul-mouth doom and gloom. Huh, that is kinda cool, I will now say that I totally planned that *wink wink, nudge nudge***

**Sorry if I didn't answer your reviews here, it most likely means that I already answered to you via private message, so it'd be kinda redundant to type the responses again.**

**Anyway, keep the reviews commin', I love seeing what you guys think!**


	10. Innocent Little Girl

**Congratulations to Girl-from-stars for being my 40th reviewer! And congratulations to 10th Squad 3rd Seat for being my 50th reviewer!**

**And this is pretty exciting, guy! I'm almost to 200 followers and 150 favorites!**

**It's crazy to think that I only started this three months ago! I'm honestly surprised that I have been uploading chapters for this long, it's a new record! *parties***

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><p>"Gah! Nakuka!" I backed away from the man as he curled into himself, gripping his stomach. Hamu had ran off my shoulder during the commotion and started to jump on top of my old man as if to add insult to injury; I'll have to get that hamster some ham after this. I didn't acknowledge Reborn as he also entered the room. "What was that for, darling daughter of mine?"<p>

"Stop messing around. You're a part of all this shit, aren't you?"

"Huh? What are you talking about, my little angel?" My eyes narrowed. No amount of using childhood nicknames, no matter how ironic (considering the fact that I have died before), would distract me. I let a sigh escape me, nevertheless.

"Forget it, I'm too old for this shit."

"Nakuka~ Don't use language like that!" I made sure to flip him off. It has been a long day, I didn't need his sass. So, I headed upstairs, forgetting his shenanigans. Unbeknownst to me, Reborn and dad were talking about the exact thing that I confronted him about.

"Sending Tsuna the rings so soon, things must have gotten really bad." Iemitsu's eyes hardened and that was all Reborn needed for an answer.

"How much does she know?"

"Just the basics, she would have figured it out eventually."

"Nakuka had always been a smart girl. It's a wonder where she got her attitude from. How about Nana?"

"Nothing." Iemitsu's forehead smoothed out as the weight of the situation lifted a little bit. Just the fact that his youngest child knew about the mafia seemed to take ten years off his life. He couldn't bear it if Nana knew about it, he wanted to protect that innocence that he fell in love with. "You have quite the family, Iemitsu."

At that, Iemitsu let out a tired bark of laughter. Oh, how well he knew that.

~Transition_\('-')/_Transition~

I tried to sleep in. Honest, I really tried. I was even willing to ignore the usual noise that went on in Sawada household. Hell, I even ignored Lambo's crying when dad didn't catch him after tossing him in the air. I couldn't ignore Tsunayoshi's high pitch squealing at the ungodly hours of eight in the morning, though.

"So, if I have this on me, I become a part of the mafia?!"

"Would you shut up?" I growled in a low voice, sleep clinging to my eyes. The idea that I probably looked worse for wear was casted off once Tsunayoshi turned to me, the shiny half of a ring swinging on the chain hung around his neck.

"N-Nakuka!" He seemed to panic as he stuffed the ring into his shirt and wrung his hands in a nervous fashion. The sleep seemed to seep out of my system at the small move. My eyes flickered towards the hitman tutor before they made their way back to Tsunayoshi.

"Don't bother. I already know about the mafia." Tsunayoshi stilled, his face slackened as his eyes widened in disbelief. It only took him a second to spin around to face Reborn in a uncharacteristically serious way.

"Reborn, you told her?!"

"She was figuring it out on her own. It was only a matter of time until she would have found out."

"That doesn't mean that you should involve her in the mafia!" I stayed silent, taken aback by the distress that Tsunayoshi displayed.

'Why is he so upset about this?'

"Just because I know doesn't mean that I'll be involved. If anything, just being associated with you had made me involved. Technically, I didn't have a choice." I watched as he cringed, an odd expression formed on his face at my words.

'Guilt?'

"Then even more reason for me to not accept this." He gripped the ring in his hand with a serious look set in his eyes.

'Since when has he been like this?' I blinked in slight surprise, but composed myself when I noticed Reborn staring at me. He looked away, favoring Tsunayoshi at the moment as he spoke.

"You can't get rid of it. You have already been recognized as a rightful candidate. Some people have already targeted the ring."

"Like that guy from yesterday?" The tiny hitman nodded and the room seemed to lull into a soft silence before Tsunayoshi's face turned ashen. "Wait a minute! What will happen when those guys finds out that the rings he took were fake?!"

"Well, they'll come from the real ones."

"Then I'll definitely be killed!"

"It'll take them about ten days to figure out that the rings are fake."

"That doesn't solve anything!"

"Are you going to let Basil's planning go to waste?"

'This is going nowhere.' I deadpanned at the conversation, Hamu also looking at the boy in the same manner as he continued to panic. I heaved a sigh as I cut into his hysteria.

"Then you'll just have to train and kill them before they kill you, huh. That's what you've been training for this whole after all, right?"

"Not you too, Nakuka!" I didn't grant him a response as I pushed myself off the door, softly closing it behind me as I went back to my room. I flopped back into my bed planning to get my needed hours of sleep when the crinkle of paper distracted me. I reached under me, peeling a sticky note off of my body as I scanned the writing. I sighed as I rolled over, letting my hand with the note flop onto my stomach.

"What a bothersome life." And with that, I pushed myself off the bed to go make a phone call.

~Transition_\('-')/_Transition~

"Is this it?" My eyebrows scrunched together as I shielded my eyes from the rays of sunshine that threatened to blind me. I glanced down at the piece of paper that I scribbled the address on, making sure that I got the right place. "Looks like it..."

I wandered up to the traditional japanese house, going past the open gates and finding the woman from yesterday leisurely sitting on the walkway. She didn't bother to open her eyes as she spoke.

"Come, sit next to me." I warily sent a look, unsure of what to make of the stranger as I did what I was told. "Come closer. I am not going to bite."

"Who are you?" She opened her eyes.

"Ah, down to the hard hitting questions. You're quite a rational soul, aren't you? That's good, even the gentlest looking of rivers may have currents that can speed away towns." At my silence, she continued. "I am Yamamoto Kosame. You may be aware of my nephew, Yamamoto Takeshi."

"Yeah, I do." I settled myself in, listening to shishi-odoshi* as it struck against the stone bowl underneath it.

"Enjoying it?" I looked at her as she stared off into the gardens, a peaceful aura emanating around the whole compound as we sat there. An amused look entered her eyes as a smile curled the corner of her lips daintily. "My godson enjoys it a lot. He was smitten with the device when I told him what the purpose of it was. He wouldn't leave it alone for a month when I had it installed."

A quiet laugh left her lips as I continued to sit there, unsure of what to do next.

"What is it intended for?"

"Hmm? Oh, it's to keep animals from grazing on the gardens. My godson used to just chase them off in that little game of his before I got my shishi-odoshi; I never did get his fascination with the hierarchy of animals, though."

I stayed silent. As much as I loved to talk about some lady's godson, I'd rather get down to business. "Why did you want to meet me here?"

"Down to business, just like that silly child." She sighed, making the simple action seem elegant. "I suppose I should tell you."

I blinked as I met her eyes, something in them made me unable to look away.

"I see potential in you. Yes, quite a bit, but that potential is being held back by what you keep locked inside you."

"Glad you care, but I'm not a charity case. I don't need a therapist." I frowned at the silent offer, getting ready to leave the second she pushed it.

"And I agree. You need time to heal, I am merely here to lend an ear and prepare you for what life intends to cast on you."

'Ah, so she's one of those types, huh.'

"Whatever you say..." And so I sat there, the silence seeping into my very being before I had enough and got up. "It's been a good time, but I really to be getting home."

Kosame lowered her head, seemingly not bothered by my rude behavior. "Very well, it was nice meeting you. Hopefully, fate will bring us to cross paths again."

"I guess..." And I hightailed it out of there.

~Transition_\('-')/_Transition~

Kosame sat there as her young guest left. She wasn't bothered by the youth's reluctance to draw nearer to her being. It was natural, after all. It was just in her nature, solitude and self-reliance was in her soul. Lucky for Kosame, she was used to dealing with such fickle personalities. She guessed she could even say that she had a knack for attracting these types, or so her brother had said in passing.

"Kosame." She heard a light tap on the polished wood of her floors, keying her in to the identity of the figure as her eyes were still shut.

"Hello, Colonello-san. It has been a while, hasn't it?"

"It has. Was that the Sawada-brat's sister, kora?"

"It was." Kosame gently poured the blond baby a cub of tea, handing over the small cup as he thanked her. They were enveloped in the infectious calm before Colonello's sharp eyes turned to her.

"You know, he's just arrived in Japan." At that, Kosame opened her hazel eyes; a flash running through them as she turned her gaze to Colonello's.

"So soon? Just like a buzzard, he swoops in the moment he smells prey."

"You can't deny that he is good at his job, though."

"Even so. I worry about what fate has in store for us now that he has been added into the plan. Such poor children, they don't even realize how deep they are into the mafia; they are already surrounded by them.."

"And that's why we're training them." The baby stood up, leaving the empty tea cup on the floor as his seagull took him up. "Thanks for the tea, Kosame, but I need to get back to training the sun guardian, kora! Good luck with your charge."

Without a response, the baby flew away with the flap of his seagull's wings, leaving Kosame to stare after the duo. Her eyes stared after them until they became specks in the blue horizon, a sigh broke through her lips. Her eyes travelled down to the teacup that was left untouched in her hands, a single tea leaf floating on the surface of the brown liquid.

"Yes, luck, we will all be needing plenty of that."

~Transition_\('-')/_Transition~

It didn't take me long to leave Yamamoto's aunt's house. I made sure of that. I couldn't stand it. I really couldn't stand how she analyzed me. How she seemed to see right through me. How right she was. It unnerved me; I know that I shouldn't take pride in it, but I really do pride myself in being unpredictable, hard to read. But that woman took seconds to break down the barriers that I have built and that made me feel threatened, though I sensed no ill will from her.

"Leave it to a Yamamoto to get under my skin." I frowned as I absentmindedly kicked a pebble away from me.

"Nakuka, how was your little outing? Fun, wasn't it?" I didn't bother reacting as he held a hand to the top of my head and measured my height. "Wow, you're getting so big, my little Nakuka. And you're getting so pretty, too! I'm going to have to bat those boys off of you soon, aren't I?" He gave me a goofy smile as he forced me to sit down on our porch. "I remember like it was yesterday, you were just learning how to walk. Where does time go?"

"Well, two years seems to be a good place to start." I huffed as he gave a bark of laughter, scaring Hamu as he scampered off into who-knows-where.

"That's one thing that hasn't changed about you! You're still as sassy as I remembered!"

"Can you not." I pushed his large hand off of my head and tried to smooth down the hairs that he disrupted. "Where's Tsunayoshi, anyway? Didn't you want to bond with him or something?"

"Hm? He seems to be busy. You don't think he's avoiding your dear old papa, do you?!" I felt myself wilt a little at his antics. I forgot how draining this man was.

"Probably." A shocked look entered the man's face, but I ignored it for the moment. "If you just explained your job to him, then maybe he'd understand you more." Something tugged on my senses, bringing my eyes back to the man as the shock wiped off all the mirth that he was displaying earlier. Something flashed in his eyes that left my gaze lingering on him, past interactions telling me that he was hiding something.

"Ahaha! You think so? But Tsuna doesn't want to listen to my work stories, he always leaves whenever I bring them out!" As if to make a point, he pulled out a bunch of postcards. I didn't take the cue to grab the cards, leaving the man with a dejected face. "Well, at least Nana will listen to my stories."

"I guess... Dad, what company do you even work for?"

"Oh, just a construction and oil company. Your manly papa works the dirt, you know!" I turned a sharp eye to him, watching his every move.

"But what's the name? It must be a pretty big company if you have to go all around the world just for construction and oil work. They have people more closer to do those type of jobs, so then why do you have to travel all the way there?"

"Huh, why? Do you miss your old man, Na-chan?~"

"Don't avoid the questions."

"Ah, well, it's not very well known. It's more of a private company, you wouldn't know."

"Try me." He paused, taking a moment to look at my face before my mother's voice floated over to us.

"Nakuka, Dear, what would you like for lunch?"

"Ah, I'll help you, Nana!" I watched as the underwear clad man headed back inside, not bothering to answer my questions.

"Tch, he escaped."

"Who escaped?" I blinked up at the older girl. Her pink hair swaying against her back as she took a graceful seat next to me.

"No one." Silence enveloped us for a second, my thoughts lazily drifting in my head. "Hey, Bianchi. How did you feel when you found out about the mafia?"

The older girl gave me glance before she looked around, making sure no one else was listening. The ruckus from the kitchen told us where mother and father were, while the screams of children upstairs were a dead give away of where the other residents were.

"I was born and bred under the mafia. My first kill was by the time I was ten; It was normalcy for me, living with the knowledge that someone could come in and kill me just for being associated with the mafia. You must be having a hard time with the fact, aren't you?"

I shook my head, staring at the garden with my dark hair curtaining my face. "I'm fine. I should be more distraught about it, but I can't find it in myself to panic. I guess I've never been the type, not like Tsunayoshi." I went silent as I heard my mother laugh, most likely feeding the mooching hamster right about now. "How long has Tsunayoshi known about this."

"About a year, when Reborn came to teach him."

"Why him? Isn't he the least likely person to be successful in the mafia."

"I would like to say he is so that Reborn could come back with me, but even I can see the progress that he has made." She gave a sigh and closed her chartreuse eyes. "Even Hayato has recognized his potential. From what I heard, he refused to follow anyone after he left home, up until now that is."

"It's true, Nakuka-san." I blinked and soon found Fuuta staring at us with sullen eyes. "Tsuna-nii really has been working hard."

"Your in on it, too?" I gave a huff. "Figures. It doesn't take a genius to see that you were all hiding something from me. Let me guess, Lambo and I-pin are a part of it, too?" At their silence and refusal to meet my eyes, I came to my own conclusions. "Whatever, it's not like it effects me that much."

"He already left with Reborn in order to be ready for the ring fights."

"I know, Reborn filled me in with all of this ring business. I figured that I wouldn't be seeing that lot for a while. But tell me, where does that leave me?"

Bianchi shot me a confused look. I didn't bother matching her gaze as my eyes watched the drifting clouds above. "As you said, someone in the mafia could send people to kill me just for being associated with someone in it. If someone came to kill me right now, then I frankly wouldn't be able to fight back."

"We would protect you."

"But how long will that last? What happens if none of you are around to keep a guy from slashing my throat or putting a bullet in my head."

"We can try to do the best we can..." I let out a huff of laughter, a surprised smile curled my lips as my eyebrows raised at the older teen.

"I'm surprised you answered so honestly. You didn't even try to sugar coat it with me."

"What use would there be?"

A silence drifted over us, we both stared at each other. An unspoken understanding between us as her eyes told me the darkness that would be waiting for me. I finally sighed, there was no use continuing this banter.

"Whatever. What comes, comes. There's not much that I can do." I got up to enter the house, letting Fuuta step out of the way before Bianchi spoke up.

"I meant it." I stopped and looked back, locking eyes with the teen. "We would do anything in our power to stop harm from coming to you and Maman."

I stayed silent, leaving the question of why they would protect me. I understood mother, but I was never as close to them as she was. But I figured that my death would be an inconvenience. And so I nodded before I silently escaped into the lively kitchen.

I walked past mother as she indulged Hamu with some of her cooking, noting the absence of my recently returned father. I made my way up the stairs and to my room, suddenly realizing how quiet the house was.

'So only doom and gloom awaits me. Joy.'

~Transition_\('-')/_Transition~

It has only been a few days since the whole mafia business came out. I was preparing to go to school alone, I seemed to be doing that a lot lately, when dad came into my room right as I attempted to tie the bow on my uniform.

"What do you want, I have to go to school soon." I raised an eyebrow at him, looking at his reflection in the mirror before I focused back onto my bow, trying to make it look presentable. I wasn't in the mood to be bothered by disciplinary buffoons today.

"You asked me if I was involved, didn't you?" My fingers froze as I locked eyes with the man, turning around while the thoughts of tying my bow were abandoned.

"So, you really are in the mafia. I can't say that I'm surprised." The hard, grim look the entered his eyes was a surprising juxtaposition to his usual lackadaisical ways.

"I want to show you the fruits of Tsuna's labor." My eyebrows knitted. The hanging ribbon was soon ripped off of my person and tossed onto the bed where it fluttered down harmlessly.

"All right, show me that he isn't the same pathetic person that I've grown up with."

And with that, I was lead to a car. It was rather disappointing as I expected a grand limousine that all of those movie mafioso rode in. Though, logically they would want to be more discrete and would just take normal vehicles. Streets and neighbors soon turned to dirt paths and trees as the car soon came to a stop. I shot my dad a silent look, but all I got from it was him telling me to follow him.

The sound of fighting soon reached my ears and I came into a clearing with Reborn, Tsunayoshi, and that one kid from a few days ago. His name honestly escaped me, but it didn't bother me as I watched him launch Tsunayoshi across the clearing. My eyes widened slightly as a cloud of debris rose into the air from the boy's impact with the cliffside.

'I didn't think it was humanely possible to be that strong.' I turned a questioning eye, only to see my father smiling at the sight.

"As I suspected, Basil is several times better than Tsuna. He's your disciple after all, Iemitsu."

"Well, I raised him rather harshly." A frown graced my lips as I turned back to the duo. I felt upset. It was petty, I know. But I was upset at the fact that this man would just up and leave only to take care of some other kid. That proud look in his eyes made my insides curl, forcing me to look away. Not even Tsunayoshi's ability to rebound from Basil's punches could distract me from the newly found feeling.

'I'm being stupid. They're in the mafia, it makes sense that he would teach him.'

A sudden rumble caught my attention as Basil launched one of the stones that he caught into a boulder at the top of the cliff. The giant rock fell and pinned my crazed-looking brother as the flame on his forehead flickered wildly.

"Hyper dying will mode uses more of a person's spirit, so it's important to have control over it. Besides, if doesn't have control over that, then he won't be able to master that technique."

"And that's why we're doing this training. If he can't control his spirit, then he won't be able to beat Basil." I glanced at the baby before I looked at my father once more. "It's a type of training that pushes Tsuna's fighting instincts to the limit."

"Hey, dad..." I gazed at the fight. A sudden powerlessness seemed to take over me as the realization that, even in this state, Tsunayoshi was much stronger than me. The one person who I have always been stronger than, in every sense of the word, was now surpassing me and leaving me behind. It sickened me and the helplessness made the violence in me churn. And so I continued, speaking in a slightly heated tone as apprehension took a hold of my heart. "Will you train me?"

"No." The answer shocked me as I turned to the man. Though, my expression didn't convey surprise, no it was much darker and even angrier.

"Why not?"

"I can't." His eyes matched my sharp glare as the air around us seemed to get colder.

"Give me a reason."

"It wouldn't do you any good."

"That's not a reason."

"The answer is no."

"Then you're just going to leave me defenseless, waiting to be slaughtered by a random person I have never met!"

"You are already protected. Both you and Nana. We haven't failed in the past year in stopping harm from coming to you two."

"That's a bullshit reasoning and you know it! How long can that last before someone slips past you and murders us both just because you refused to teach me how to defend myself!"

"You cannot handle blood on your hands, Nakuka." My temper simmered down as I felt myself become stoic.

"Don't make assumptions. Do you think a little blood is enough to scare me off. It's killed or be killed, and no way in hell am I going to wait to be slaughtered. Just you wait, one day push will come to shove and I will have to put a bullet in someone's head. And I will watch that person die as their last breath leaves them and their blood stains the ground, then you will see that the innocent little girl that you have been trying so desperately to protect is gone. Though... I have to wonder, did that little girl even exist?" I narrowed my eyes as he didn't respond, his eyes was still trained on the battle that was going on.

I felt upset that he didn't seem to acknowledge what I said, but I knew that my words reached him. It would plant a seed in his thoughts, and that was all you really needed in order to breed more thoughts. And so I left, preparing to find my own in how to fight.

Because I'll be damned if I let myself be kicked around so easily. I will not let myself be convinced that I am fine.

I will live.

And I'm prepared to kill in order to do so.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

***Shishi-odoshi: it's pretty much that bamboo stick that fills up with water and tilts over, making a sound as it strikes the stone/rock underneath it.**

**I was going to make this a bit longer, but I figured that I haven't uploaded in a while and won't be doing it again for about a week due to upcoming finals.**

**I would also like people to keep in mind that Nakuka was never fully a child when she was reborn as Nakuka, so that's what she was referring to when she said that little tid bit and the end of her hissy fit.**

**Reviews:**

**Where's the mayo: Yes! I'm glad that you like her! If only Nakuka could see that someone likes her piss poor attitude *sniffs and dries eyes*. Then again~ she'd probably just blow us off...**

**ExorcistWhite: Nope, not a Vongola guardian. I'm working out the kinks in the story (not really, I kinda make this up as I go) and as of yet, I don't think so. And me too, I love me some drama and fighting. ;)**

**YumiKage: I think that Nakuka's flame type will come out soon. And you know, I haven't really thought of that; thanks for giving me some ideas!**

**Dustflame: You betcha! I personally would think that I would get bored with writing a fic that involved a character who couldn't do anything to protect themselves. Making your characters rely on other is taxing, ya know?**

**10th Squad 3rd Seat: In the near future, she will be receiving that self defense stuff! And I would have to say that she is just more suspicious of people when she meets them than Tsuna, so she's more in tune with her instincts. But I will say that she's not going to be one of those Mary Sues who magically knows who to trust or when shit will hit the fan, she's not superhuman after all.**

**Moka-girl: I already answered you via PM, but I'm not sure if you saw it since you didn't reply. So, I'll just repeat it here again. Pretty much, the story is just starting out and I wanted to keep it cannon since I had to reason to make it any different as of yet. There will be some more divergence and differences later on, but I will ask you to stick around for that and hopefully it'll satisfy you. And the way I see it, Nana seems like the type of character who would give silly (and sometimes nonsensical) nicknames to those she's close to. So, I guess that's why. *shrugs***

**Once again, thank you to all of you who have reviewed. I love answering questions, so keep on asking them!**

**Question: If you could chose what flame and weapon Nakuka would use, what would you chose? If you could pair her up with anyone, who would it be? (I mean, fuck, it could be Leonardo DiCaprio for all I care. But seriously, I would die a little inside.)**

**Until next time, see ya~**


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